


There is Hope in Pandemonium

by jackofallclubs



Series: There is Hope in Pandemonium [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Control Issues, First Time, M/M, Post Advent Children, Post-Dirge of Cerberus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 05:25:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 54,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackofallclubs/pseuds/jackofallclubs
Summary: A new threat has befallen the planet and WRO. Protesters are standing against the WRO and questioning their motives. Rufus Shinra and his Turks join the WRO and cause much more turmoil than possible but yet another threat arises when things heat up between the ex-turk and a certain annoying redhead."Vincent felt the rumble deep inside him that was coming from Chaos. He was surprised at the demon's open admission. Reno's smirk only widened to a more feral one. That rumble sounded surprisingly like a purr."





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Setting: Final Fantasy VII World, one year after the events of Dirge of Cerberus. For any who have not played the game, Shelke is a character from the game that helped Vincent out and at the end of the game Chaos, Vincent's demon, and Omega, the WEAPON of that game, were both destroyed and returned to the planet.
> 
> Note: I'm trying to keep the characters as much In Character as possible but it's kind of hard when they're thrown into a situation that they have not been portrayed in the game. I would also like to point out that Vincent is not the silent character a lot of others point him out to be (I think). He is brooding and quiet, but he still talks quite a bit and has a lot of smart-ass comments to make as well as a very dry sense of humour.
> 
> Originally posted on ff.net and since this was my first ever finished fanfic I decided to share it on here and the beauty that is Vincent and Reno.

Reeve and Cid sat quietly in a small waiting room, facing each other but neither finding the need to fill the comfortable silence between them. They were waiting for their two companions and when the door swooshed open, they realized that at least one of them had come.

Yuffie bounced into the room, tripping over her own feet in the process but regaining her balance before she could plant her face at Cid’s feet. She waved happily at the two men and even at the age of twenty, she was as hyperactive as always, bouncing around on one spot.

“Where is she?” Reeve looked behind the young ninja for their final companion.

“She’ll be here in a moment,” the Wutaian grinned widely.

Cid snorted out something before rising and removing a cigarette from the pack under his goggles. He easily lit the cancer stick and breathed in deeply before facing the other door of the room. “When’s the meeting?”

Reeve glanced at the clock above the door and sighed heavily. “Five minutes.”

“Hello.”

“Yo, man! Shit, ya scared me, girl!” Cid jumped slightly and reached out to grab his falling cigarette, easily catching it and burning himself in the process. After a hiss escaped his lips, he took another long drag and turned the young girl. “Shit, man… every time I see ya, ya get taller an’ taller! I swear… one of these days ya’ll probably reach ma height!”

The group started walking towards the other door.

“As if I’d want to reach your height, old man,” the small brunette scoffed.

“That’s right, you tell him Shelke!” Yuffie jumped out from behind her and wrapped her hands around the brunette.

“Oh, man,” the pilot turned away and muttered a few obscenities under his breath before shaking his head. “Can’t believe they’re teamin’ up on me!”

Reeve laughed when he came closer to the pilot, resting a hand on the blonde’s shoulder and tapping it gently. “Come on Cid, enjoy the fun,” the robed man turned towards the two girls. “Glad you could make it.”

“Of course I can,” the brunette smiled softly as she walked beside Yuffie and down the long hall towards the meeting room.

Reeve nodded and turned to face forward again, hands behind his back, but threw a question back at the others. “So, Shelke… got anything new for us?”

“Actually, yes,” the brunette nodded softly and took out a small disk. “I’ve collected some data from around the World Network… and it’s not something we can be happy about.”

During the past year, after the Deep Ground incident, Shelke had joined in on the WRO as a computer and intelligence specialist. Yuffie and she constantly ended up working together to find information on anything that may help them. During that one year, the nine-year old body of the young woman was slowly regaining the past years. She stood barely half a head shorter than Yuffie and appeared barely a few years younger.

The Wutai ninja had taken quite a liking to the girl, especially when the girl’s dry humour had jumped out towards their resident pilot.

“What is it about?” Reeve asked with hands crossed over his chest as the small group walked down the long metal hall of the new WRO Headquarters.

“Mostly small things,” the brunette continued, glancing at Yuffie every so often as the hyperactive ninja was rubbing in comments into the pilot. “However I have found that there is a forming organization that is… not… happy with us.”

This caused the other three lead members of the WRO to face her in question.

“They are saying that the WRO is doing what President Shinra was doing, especially when it concerns our army,” the girl’s voice became slightly monotone and more robotic, reminding all where she had come from and her true objective. “There were quite a few threats sent out towards the WRO and you especially, Reeve.”

The man became silent but continued walking without stop.

“They are also questioning not only your motives, but your source of income,” the girl added in, causing the robed male to lower his head in thought.

“Is this information reliable?” he asked after a long moment of silence.

Shelke nodded and glanced at Yuffie briefly before turning her gaze back to Reeve. “I am currently confirming it all… however some of those reports have been shown to the public in various areas of the planet.”

The Wutai ninja seemed to pout, annoyed that she hadn’t been informed of a mission within her section of espionage and intelligence. Cid noticed this and raised an eyebrow at the silent exchange between the two girls, but didn’t voice his opinion. Reeve noticed it too however he didn’t remain silent and voiced his question. “Whom have you sent out?”

Shelke smiled slightly, her gaze lingering on Yuffie a moment longer, before glancing at Reeve. “There is only one other person I know that is better than Yuffie when it comes to gathering information.”

The other three immediately understood and nodded in agreement, before entering into the meeting room. They were all silently glad as to who was chosen for the job.


	2. Three Months Later

_“…World Regenesis Organization? What have you done to aid the world so far? How long did it take you to give up on rebuilding Midgar and create Edge instead? What of Gongaga, Corel, Junon?”_ Rufus Shinra stared quietly at the television with the broadcast on at the moment. Some protestors were out making speeches again. He took a long swig of his glass of whiskey without ever tearing his eyes away from the screen.

 _“From the results we’ve seen so far, your organization is only trying to get money to summon up another one of those monsters! They are part of the planet as well, so are your trying to re-create them, somehow?”_ for a moment the blonde president, though no longer holder of anything to be president of, wondered how long it had taken to write the speech full of questions.

 _“Rebuilding the cities? Clearing up Shinra’s mess? Bah! You are just replacing them as a government and military! We’ve all seen your soldiers running round with their rifles in pretext to clear the streets—”_ Rufus finally tuned out the voice and his eyes glazed over as he rested his head on the cold glass of whiskey.

“This is not good,” he muttered to himself and released the weight of his head on the glass long enough to place it between his lips and take another long swig. He looked down at his PHS on the glass table and let his eyes focus once more on the leader of the rebellion against the WRO.

Not a rebellion yet, but Rufus was becoming wary as many people around the world were supporting this speaker, whose name he did not bother to remember, that appeared almost daily on the television now with his long winded speeches of questions. He once more glanced at his PHS and watched as the screen lit up before placing the glass of whiskey to his lips. The final contents of the alcohol slid down his throat but his eyes never tore from the screen as the phone started ringing.

Without any haste he put his glass down on the table and picked up the phone before flicking it open with a lazy flick of his wrist. “Yes?”

 _“Rufus! It’s good to finally hear your voice! I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for the past week now!”_ the cheery voice on the other end annoyed the blonde and his brows furrowed.

“I was hoping you’d take the hint and stop trying to call.”

 _“Now, now. That’s no way to talk to an old friend!”_ the man snorted into the phone in amusement. _“Anyway, I’m calling because I need some help in regards to this Arma Regal.”_

Rufus barely caught himself from asking ‘Arma-who?’ when he noticed the banner behind the man on the screen saying that exact same name. “What of him?”

_“I take it you haven’t heard of the protest that started outside the WRO headquarters in Edge a few days ago…?”_

For a moment the blond seemed annoyed that he did not know that small piece of information however he brushed it off along with the random piece of flint on his pristine white pants. “What of them?”

_“What of them? My men have not been able to go home in days now and those that have, are not able to return! Barret found some type of mineral he wants us to test to replace Mako, however he was attacked trying to get into the building and lost the case!”_

“Mmhmm…”

_“He said he would gather some more and drop it off at our lab in Junon.”_

“And…” Rufus looked at his nails in slight annoyance as he spoke. “What does this have to do with me?”

_“The protests are surrounding all of our headquarters around the world! The small office in Corel was completely run over and the refugees took it over themselves.”_

“Why not just give them what they want?”

_“Excuse me?”_

“Why are you contacting me?” Rufus sounded annoyed over the phone. “There is not much I can do for you, even if I am willing to do so. You did not want my advice on running your little organization those few years ago when you started it up, why would you want it now, once things got a little hot for you?”

_“You are a bastard, you know that?”_

“I could’ve sworn my parents were married when I was born.”

_“Damn it, Rufus! You are already involved in this if you want it or not! Please, help us!”_

“Ahh… there’s the magic word,” the president rose from his pristine white couch and walked out of his living room to the small office of his apartment. “If, and I emphasize on the 'if', I were to help you out, I hope you understand that not many people would like my methods.”

_“I understand that.”_

Rufus thumbed the large black book on his desk to a specific page and looked over the numbers he had written down when Tseng gave his latest report almost a week ago. “And I emphasize that on members of your staff. One, Barret Wallace and Cid Highwind in particular. I do not want Mr. Highwind, leader of your air force, to shoot down any of my airships once we come in to help.”

_“Your airships? Rufus, what have you been doing?”_

“Rebuilding my army, of course.” The president shrugged lightly and switched the phone to the other ear so he could pull out the bottle of whiskey and walk back to the living room. “And your… spy… Yuffie Kisaragi? I would like to have a talk with her.”

Silence answered his request and Rufus smirked silently as he refilled his glass, put the bottle down, and took the glass to his lips.

_“I need to talk this over with my group.”_

“Of course,” Rufus spoke after he swallowed his current gulp of alcohol. “Take all the time you need, I am in no rush.”

The conversation ended with a few polite, though obviously fake on both sides, endearments.

Rufus looked down at his PHS as the glass met his lips once more. Rude was busy training new recruits in the Bone Village, Tseng was supervising the construction of a new building on the outskirts of Kalm, Elena was running around the planet like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get new recruits in silence, and Reno was probably drunk off his ass somewhere near the Chocobo Farm. That left nobody he trusted to drive him to the liquor store for another bottle of whiskey.


	3. Shinra and the Turks

It was three weeks after his conversation on the phone with Rufus Shinra that Reeve watched a helicopter coming from the distance towards their headquarters near Edge. The crowd in front of the building had only grown during that time and Reeve had been stuck inside the building along with all of his staff in hopes that no fighting will start. As he watched the single helicopter nearing the building he could only curse Rufus for being the pompous and over-confident ass he was.

“That ‘im?” Cid growled with thick arms crossed over his chest and a cigarette between his lips as he stood beside the ex-head of urban development in Shinra.

“Yes.”

“Ooohh!! Why does _he_ have to come?” Yuffie stomped her feet childishly. She had actually left the building a few times already and returned quietly, one of those times to meet with the very same man that was flying towards them and talk to him.

“He’s not that bad,” Shelke sighed beside her friend and turned her eyes away when Yuffie stared at her. “Is he?” she turned to Reeve instead.

“No… he has been the one funding the WRO since its creation and the one who pushed me to become the leader of the organization. We both decided it would be in everyone’s best interest to keep that information quiet.”

“Then why is he here now?” Yuffie stomped once more. She never had anything personally against the blonde president, however she had been part of AVALANCHE long enough to understand that others did not like him.

“We’ve already gone over this,” Reeve sighed as he noticed the helicopter nearing, the blades now audible, and all in the crowd staring up at it as well. “Yuffie, Shelke, please go prepare the meeting room. Cid, can I have you escort me out to meet with him?”

The old pilot grumbled something under his breath but nodded and all four left the small balcony overlooking the crowd of protestors.

The helicopter neared and hovered over the building and overlooking the crowd that had been camping out in front and around the building for almost a month now. It carefully set down.

The doors on the roof of the WRO headquarters opened to reveal Reeve Tuetsi in his long, traditional dark blue robes walking beside Cid Highwind, in his usual grease-stained shirt and cargos, surrounded by a small group of armed men.

A small group exited the helicopter a moment later. First out was a young blonde woman in a black suit and fingerless gloves, reaching up to the headset and saying something while the helicopter blades started slowing down. Next out was the much more familiar face of a tall Wutaian male with a tilak on his forehead. Tseng’s long black hair was picked up in the swirl of the blades and he stood on the other side of the helicopter door scanning over the empty roof.

The co-pilot of the helicopter was next to exit after he removed his headset and Rude exited with much more grace than his large frame suggested. He walked to the front of the helicopter, then around it before going to the front again and staring right at Reno, the fourth member of their group, and making a few simple hand gestures.

The blades stopped spinning completely and Rufus Shinra exited the helicopter in his usual pristine white suite with only a splash of black on him. He stood between Tseng and Elena as he fixed his own fingerless gloves before facing Cid and Reeve as the two men walked towards him.

The three men exchanged wary glances, stiff handshakes, and brief nods before all turning to enter back into the building.

“Yo, boss man!” Reno called out, startling the perfection of the serious seen with his cocky attitude as he stuck his head out the side door. “Am I leavin’ my baby ‘ere?”

Rufus sighed and decided to ignore the idiot before turning to Reeve and motioning to continue walking into the building.

“He can leave it on the roof, there are no other flights scheduled at any time around here. This is a no-fly zone.”

The redhead exited the helicopter a moment later and looked over the group walking to the door leading into the building. He scratched his barrage of red locks and looked over his baby. “You can fill out your logs and get her ready for lift-off, Reno,” Rufus spoke over his shoulder before disappearing. As an afterthought Cid pulled one of the soldiers back with him and remained on the roof with the redhead.

He watched with curiosity as the deceptively lazy redhead started milling around the helicopter to look everything over. He was surprised that the helicopter had not only flown across the zone here, the effects of magic and the Lifestream causing problems for all machinery in the sky, but had landed safely and was being looked over for further flight. After a few minutes Cid gave the soldier his instructions and disappeared inside after the others. Once Reno was done his checks he followed the soldier into the building and to the meeting room where his companions were gathered.

He slipped inside quietly just as Rufus was talking to the gathered people about how his army would aid the WRO. Noticing the other three Turk members sitting around the long executive table along with quite a few members of the WRO, Reno decided to sit at the table as well. The only open spot he found though was next to that grumbling pilot that he had been warned might shoot down his baby. After a moment of contemplation he sat down quietly on the offered spot and leaned his elbows on the table as he listed to his leader.

Maybe he should have paid better attention the first time Rufus had said this information to his Turks alone, because nothing made sense now as he listened.

“Okay, ya have the manpower,” Cid interrupted suddenly and leaned forward. “How are we ta feed these extra mouths? I don’ know if ya’ve noticed, but we’re not ‘sactly in good condition as is. We’ve been able to send off most of da people home already durin’ this protest bullshit, but we’ve a lot of us still stuck ‘ere without much.”

“We have our own and we can bring it here to share. Reno, how many men can you fit on the helicopter?” the redhead was startled at the question but calculated it quickly in his head.

“A team of ten soldiers.”

“How much is that based on stock-load?”

“Well…” the redhead muttered as he dug out his pack of cigarettes. He started speaking aloud, but quietly, murmuring numbers and doing quick calculations on the average weight of substances and men. Once he had a cigarette out, his pack away, and a lighter in his other hand, his eyes shot to Cid. “‘Nuff to sustain 'undred people for a month.” He rounded off the numbered calculation. “No piggin’-out, though.”

“But I doubt you can fly in that often, who knows how long this protest will take?” another member of the WRO spoke from his seat a few away from Reno.

“Bitch, please,” Reno scoffed and lit his cigarette. “Ya dare compare my baby to your pieces ‘a shit? I’m no idiot,” the redhead ignored the stern glare Tseng gave him across the table. “I know this area suffered with da lightning materia since the Omega bullshit and airships and ‘copters have problems gettin’ ‘ere. I don’t need any of that crap to run my baby back and forth. Jus’ need a second set ‘a hands and eyes fer assurance.”

Cid was still bristling at the comment that his airships were compared to shit, however he decided to not try and strangle the lithe redhead. “How long will it take you to fly some resources to Mideel, Corel, and Junon?”

At that Reno actually cringed. “With this birdy? Two days at best to Junon, with a stop. She’s a big hunk-a-junk and can carry a lot of shit, but nothin’ compared to the old bird on speed.”

Somebody slid an ashtray across the table to him just as he flicked his cigarette. It bounced off his elbow and landed under his hand to allow the ash to fall right into it. Reno glanced around and noticed Tseng’s annoyed expression before silently thanking the man.

“And your other bird? We need to send these as fast as possible, but most of my fast ships are still in repair from the Omega incident. We’ve been focusing on fixin’ the big ones to send supplies.”

Reno once more started muttering under his breath and flicked his cigarette continually even though there was no need. “Ya give me proper time to fix ‘er, proper resources, and a few packs of cigarettes and I can have her runnin’ in a week. Cargo hold fer her is half the size of the one up-top, but I can attach hooks to carry cargo under her in nets. She’ll be slower, gonna need more fuel, but still faster than anythin’ else possible at the moment.”

Reno smirked as he faced Rufus, he had been annoying the blonde to give him the money to fix his other bird for a few months now, and the president had always refused. “‘Less of course, ya got that _Highwind_ beauty runnin’ again?”

Cid smirked and clapped the kid on the back. He knew how to appreciate a true airship. “Haven’t had the chance to fix her engines yet, she’s still running on Mako. Once that’s done she’ll be able to help out.”

“I take it you agree on our help then?” Rufus questioned as he slid back into his seat across from Reeve.

Reeve thought quietly. “I don’t want this to be forced, but we need to clear out our sectors in order to get supplies to all parts needing help. Rebuilding is slower than ever and, as Mr. Highwind has pointed out, we haven’t had the time to fix anything of our own which is slowing us down. Right now we are looking for man-power and time.”

“I have both to offer,” Rufus explained quietly, propping his head with two fingers as he lounged in the comfortable chair at the table.

“I am aware. But what do you want in return?”

The question that everybody at the table had circling around their minds finally came to the surface. Rufus scoffed at the accusation and slowly rose from his spot. As if on instinct all four Turks rose from their own seats. “I have been funding the WRO for three years now. If I want something from you, I will have it, whether you want to give it or not.”


	4. Vincent Valentine

“How long have you been there?” Shelke asked into the shadow near the door when she left the meeting room. She had made sure to be the last to leave and now watched with mild interest as the shadow melted out of the wall to reveal the one man she trusted more than anyone else.

“Long enough,” Vincent Valentine’s deep rumbling voice sounded around her and surrounded the small girl in comfort.

“Good, then Reeve won’t have to repeat anything for you.” The two left the room together and silently walked down the hall to Shelke’s personal office. “Not that I mind, but how come you are back so early?”

Red eyes looked at the still growing girl and Vincent smiled behind his cloak. “Our camp in Gongaga was overrun.”

The girl took out a small pad she kept attached where the previous energy blades used to be. She ran her fingers over it and used the hand-held, touch-screen computer to get some information. “I thought so, Gongaga’s camp was overrun a few weeks ago,” she spoke once she confirmed the information that had been circling through her head.

“No… not like that.” Vincent paused and pushed the young woman, in the body of a teenage girl, against the wall. “All members of WRO were executed yesterday.”

“What!?” Shelke called out loudly, startling a few others that walked the halls. “Who would do such a horrible thing?”

“It’s not Arma Regal, if that’s whom you were thinking,” Vincent rested his arms on either side of her head against the wall and ducked his head down to look her in the eyes. His breathing was heavy and his arms trembled lightly as he held himself up.

“Oh no, it’s getting worse, isn’t it?” Shelke suddenly changed the topic and her hand shot up, touching the side of his face carefully. Vincent leaned into the touch and closed his eyes, liking the feel of her cool hand against his heated skin. “You’re burning up! You should get out of these clothes!” her hands suddenly started flying and undoing the buckles of his mantle before pushing it off his shoulders along with the matching red cape.

A wandering mechanic noticed the girl working on now undoing his shirt and his eyes widened. He had heard many rumours that Shelke seemed to resemble Vincent’s past lover in both looks and personality, but seeing the young girl undressing a man that appeared almost twice her age but being three times that much, startled him.

“Do not worry for this,” Vincent swiped her hands away carefully with his gauntlet when she started undoing the buttons of his shirt to open it up some. “I have to tell Reeve this new development.”

“We have to tell him about your condition!” Shelke protested suddenly.

“I am sure the information of twenty of his staff being killed in cold blood is more important than an old man reaching his age.” He pushed off the wall slowly, his arms still trembling from the small amount of force needed to hold him there in the first place. “Where is he now?”

Shelke ran her hands through his hair and pulled at the red bandana wound in the black mess. “He is in a private meeting with President Shinra.” She let the red material drop amongst the rest on the ground. “You can go talk to him on one condition!” she raised a finger.

Vincent smiled at the young girl but nodded.

A few minutes later Shelke deposited of the older man’s cloak, mantle, bandana, gauntlet and the metal guards of his boots in his room before moving to her own room to sit in front of the computer and gather information of the newly deceased members of the WRO.

Vincent was walking the halls towards Reeve’s private rooms wearing only his black slacks and shirt, buckles on the shirt undone but buttons keeping it closed. His left arm, usually covered by the metal gauntlet, was now shown only with a black, elbow-high glove with tight buckles and straps around it. The glove was always there under the gauntlet so the black leather was comfortably worn and shifted like skin under his grasp. His long black hair fell in his eyes even worse than before and hid his expression, letting only the startling red of his eyes peek through the black mass.

He was startled to see Cid walking down the hall towards him with the redheaded Turk by his side.

“Yo, Vince!” Cid called with a cigarette between his lips. “When did ya get back?”

“A few minutes ago,” he explained and watched the contemplation on Reno’s face turn to slight surprise when the redhead noticed the man staring at him. “And you are?”

“We’ve met before,” Reno scoffed and scratched at his hair. “Reno, second-in-command of the Turks. Honour to meet you, Mr. Valentine.”

Vincent’s eyes narrowed but he extended his hand to shake, surprised that the redhead used his left hand and forcing his own not to tremble in the brief exchange.

“Bah! Yer now Mr. Valentine, eh?” Cid nudged the red-eyed man with a grin. “Took me five years to get him to agree to callin’ ‘im Vince!” the gruff pilot explained to the redhead.

“I never agreed, Highwind. And we’ve only known each other for four years.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Cid shook his head. “Shinra and the Turks are visiting for a field trip; I’m trying to teach this one here a lesson about how much better mah machines are than any crap he’ll ever create or touch.”

“Bullshit, old man!” Reno smirked, getting into a comfortable swagger with the older pilot.

Cid only grinned and turned to face Vincent again. "Join us for a drink?"

“No thank you, I have some distressing news for Reeve. I must speak to him right away.”

“Why not catch him right after the meeting?” Reno pointed out curiously. Both Vincent and Cid gave him an awkward look and he shrugged. “Ya were in the room entire time after all.”

“Ya were?” Cid questioned suddenly.

Vincent only nodded slowly. “I must go.” The ex-Turk passed the other two and continued down the hall. By the time he got to Reeve’s door the man was done with his meeting and standing outside of it with Rufus for a last minute conversation.

“Vincent! My friend,” Reeve greeted from a distance.

“I must speak to you, urgently.”

“Join me in walking Mr. Shinra out and we will.”

“Please,” Rufus interrupted. “Call me Rufus, my father was Mr. Shinra.”

“Then call me Reeve in return.” The two continued in a normal banter as they walked down the hall towards the main entrance of the building. It had been decided that Reno was to stay on-site with his bird before joining Cid in getting supplies to all their settlements and Rude was to join his partner. Rufus was to leave via car with Tseng and Elena, the two having already left the building to get said vehicle ready.

By the time they got to the main lobby of the building Reno and Rude had re-joined their president to be his bodyguards while leaving. Reeve continued to talk to the blonde president and Vincent followed silently. By the time the car arrived Shelke had gathered her information and appeared in the lobby as well, wanting to confirm the details with Vincent before presenting it to Reeve himself.

Elena was standing outside in the crowd surrounding the car, her gun drawn to keep anybody from touching the vehicle where a few already tried to tip it over. A few others had joined her, dressed in the same black uniform that was standard for the Turks save for wearing a white tie instead of the usual black. Tseng made his way into the building and silently acknowledged the crowd before motioning for Rufus to get going.

The first step outside the building had faces turning and screaming starting. The men in black suits and white ties tried to hold them back for as long as possible but just the sight of the Shinra President boiled their blood.

Reno and Rude moved beside Rufus on instinct, stepping a few steps forward. Reeve had already passed the man down the steps with Vincent right behind him. Tseng led the group down the steps with a hard glare at the crowd. But Shelke was the first to notice the problem.

She screamed, rushing at the door from inside to voice her concerns when she saw somebody from the crowd drawing a gun and pushing their way to the front.

Vincent heard her and registered the movement a moment later.

Two shots fired in quick succession, both aiming for the white-clad Shinra male. The first nicked Reno’s cheek, the redhead having been standing in the line of sight, before breaking the glass door behind them near Shelke. The second hit the meat of Vincent’s shoulder as the man stood in front of the president on instinct to take the blow.

The next moments passed too quickly for anybody to notice the entire fray.

Elena fired up into the air to scare those around her away and the crowd started dispersing. The men in black suits and white ties restrained the shooter while the four trained Turks with them rushed Rufus and Reeve back inside the building. Rude led the retreat while Reno covered Rufus with his own body, Vincent staggered after Reeve and Tseng held the tail with a gun pointed at the crowd and eyes scanning the running people.

Elena followed them shortly into the building and so did the men in white ties, watching from inside as the car was turned over and destroyed by those that remained in the crowd.

“Damn it, is everyone alright?” Reeve questioned and watched as his own soldiers and the men with white ties held the crowd from entering the building. He scanned over the group. Rufus was standing behind a corner, brushing at his white suit in annoyance. Tseng was sending orders to his Turks and though Reno was bleeding from the graze on his cheek he followed them by stating the conditions of his bird and that she would be able to fly them out as soon as they were near her.

His eyes scanned over Vincent, knowing the man healed almost instantly, before moving to Shelke to take in the girl’s scared expression. She ran to Vincent and that was when it registered that the ex-Turk was still bleeding. The bullet was lodged inside.

“Vincent, are you alright?” he questioned, slight worry in his tone.

None of the group had time to register as the tall, indestructible man fell to his knees and howled in pain. Shelke was by his side in moments and she grabbed the closest person to her, who happened to be Reno, and dragged him in as well.

“Restrain him,” she moved the redhead’s arms and Reno automatically obeyed.

Shelke then leaned over them both and another growl of pain sounded as her slim fingers dug into the wound on his shoulder and searched for the bullet. “It’s okay, Vince. Just bear with it, I have to get it out now,” she explained quietly as her fingers continued to tear and widen the wound. For some reason she did not feel the tell-tale sign of the muscle re-stitching itself as she had felt it before, but she ignored that simple thought. A moment later her hands slipped out with the small bullet falling in Vincent’s lap before rolling to the ground.

The ex-Turk had fallen strangely silent though and his entire weight relaxed onto Reno. It took the others a moment longer than the small girl to realize he had passed out.

“Couldn’t you have waited to remove the bullet?” Elena asked, covering her mouth with one hand not in disgust but in surprise at seeing the powerful man passed out.

“If I had waited, he would have healed around it and then I would have had to tear the wound anew to dig the bullet out before allowing him to heal again.”

“Yo, if he heals so damn fast, why’s he still bleedin’?” Reno motioned with his head to the wound, continuing to keep the gunman balanced in his hold.

“What?” Shelke turned to notice that the redhead was, in fact, correct. Her eyes widened and recognition flashed in their depths. “Damn it, help me get him to the infirmary,” she motioned. Reno looked up at Rufus first, as if asking permission to obey her orders.

“You work for them as well now, go. Rude can fly us out of here without your help.”

“Sir,” Reno bowed his head and changed his hold on the passed out male before taking long strides after the small girl rushing away.

“I apologize but I…”

“Go.” Rufus waved his hand to show Reeve he was free as well. “I will contact you once I have my team ready to get rid of this crowd. Now that an attempt on both our lives has been made, I have every reason to use force.”

Reeve hesitated, wanting to argue with the blond male about the matter, however he was worried for Vincent and nodded instead. He rushed off after Shelke a moment later, catching Cid on the way and dragging him after him as well.


	5. Quiet Demons

Vincent groaned lightly as he came to. He felt a slow throbbing in his shoulder and a pounding in his head. Behind that pounding the usual growling and feelings that the demons had evoked were gone. He was still not used to it. After having to _feel_ them for thirty years inside his coffin, and then let them rip his body apart in battles for the three years to follow, not having them there was… strange. They never spoke to him, they taunted him and joked with him, but never actually spoke. He had felt their feelings, a constant storm brewing at the back of his mind and he felt their intentions as clear as if they were his own.

Now, he felt nothing but the emptiness of his own thoughts. That made him wonder how much of the feelings over the last thirty-four years had been his own. Maybe it was Death Gigas in his ever-lasting silence that had him step into the coffin in the first place, maybe it was Galian Beasts’s stubborn attitude that kept him in there for almost thirty years. And then he thought of how Hell Masker’s emotions were always those of confused anger, unable to stop himself although he sometimes acted like he wanted to.

Or maybe Chaos in his never ending blood-lust had finally given up on the other three, had wanted to tear the blue sky out of Cid’s eyes when the man opened the coffin. After it had tasted the blood spilled when Veld had taken him out two years before, it was always prowling inside his head wanting to escape and attack.

But now they were gone.

Chaos had bullied the other three demons inside him to submission and to lend him their power. Vincent had felt the pieces torn out, cursed each of the demons that had unwillingly become a part of him and then cursed Chaos for destroying those parts. Each of the demons had taken something of his with them. Galian Beast had taken his passion, Death Gigas had taken his judgment, and Hell Masker had taken his remorse.

When Chaos fought the Omega weapon he disappeared as well taking his will to live.

Vincent lay silently in the hospital bed, closing his eyes to hold back the feelings that he sometimes wished would just overwhelm him, but never came. He did not need to look down at his shoulder to know it was bandaged. The last time he had to have a wound bandaged was over thirty four years ago… almost thirty-five since Hojo never once bothered to bandage any of the wounds he inflicted on him.

He felt the familiar throb of a wound healing. It was slow. A small smile found his lips. The bone and muscle did not re-stitch itself around a bullet or blade fragment this time, it did not heal wrong making him re-break it and set it so it healed properly. He had felt it for a while now; his healing was slowing as his body was aging.

Vincent had tried to explain it to himself once as to why. Hojo was the one who gave him the ability to heal and to live forever, before killing him. And now that the demons were gone they had taken both of those abilities as well. Shelke was the only one who knew because she was going through a similar process herself. The girl was catching up on the eleven missed years of her life in growth, her body quickly adapting to the changes as if puberty.

But Vincent had to age thirty-four years and from the rate his body was trying to achieve that, he would reach his natural age of sixty-one in barely three years, by that time equalling out to appear the sixty-four year old he really was. The problem was, unlike Shelke, his body was not accepting these changes too generously.

His body was used to the constant changes between the demons, his most powerful attacks although most painful to achieve. The pain of every limit break, of every transformation, always echoed through his muscles and limbs for days to follow. His body had to break itself, align a different way and set to heal that way in the matter of seconds otherwise he would die.

And now this slow change was tormenting every muscle that had ever felt the pain of his transformations. This slow pain was worse than the quick change that he had started getting used to. It was no longer like ripping off a band-aid; it was more like watching as a scalpel slowly sank into your skin from the weight of its handle only.

Reeve had asked him the other day if he slept enough for he always appeared tired. Cid grumbled that he noticed his breathing had gotten heavier anytime he had a cigarette, but he still allowed the gunman to steal one whenever he wished for it. Yuffie joked that he was getting old because he was getting slower in their chases through the building – the ninja always stealing something of _his_ never anybody else’s. But Shelke was the first to notice that every time he leaned against a wall or sat on something during a conversation, that either his arms or his cape and hunched frame hid his heaving chest. She noticed that he was getting tired of tasks as simple as walking or talking.

That was also when the young woman came to the conclusion that he was aging like her and when the gunman confessed that his demons were gone. Not silenced, as they had been during his calming reverie in Lucrecia’s cave, but _gone_.

During all his musings of silence and keeping a steady breath and closed eyes, he never once noticed the figure sitting in the corner of his small room, regarding him with contemplative eyes. With age went the senses and his sixth sense had disappeared along with the demons leaving him with only his days of training as a Turk.

Once he opened his eyes for the second time, wondering when Shelke or Yuffie would pound questions of worry into him, he finally registered the redhead sitting in the corner.

“Reno, was it?” he questioned, his voice heavy and forcing him to clear his throat.

The redhead nodded, green eyes with specks of blue and silver in them, narrowed in contemplation. “What are you doing here?”

“Da little one was pacing a hole in the floor waiting fer ya to wake up and the other chick was wearing a hole in this chair tryin’ ta get comfortable.”

“They have names,” Vincent scoffed, pushing himself with a groan of pain to sit up. Reno did not even bother to move as he watched the wounded man readjust the pillows to get more comfortable. “And you did not answer my question.”

“Da pilot bastard was kicked out fer tryin’ ta light a smoke a few too many times and Reeve had to try and convince da boss-man that he don' need ta kill everyone out there.” He explained, turquoise eyes roaming over his figure for a moment. That was when Vincent also realized that he was not wearing anything other than sleep pants and the bandage on his shoulder and across his chest. Shelke had been nice enough to keep his left glove on but the material was held below his elbow instead of above it and the top was stained with blood from the shoulder wound.

“So they left me ta watch ya, make sure ya gonna wake up.”

Vincent nodded softly and gathered the blankets to hide his uncovered stomach and hide the scars on there. The other shoulder and arm were bare and the only way to hide them, along with his neck, was to bring the blanket up to his nose like his mantle. But he felt childish even thinking that.

“They are not used ta ya bein’ wounded, eh?”

“More like not healed,” Vincent corrected and worked on unbuckling the last buckle of his glove to flip the edge up and cover the badly scared elbow under it as it was usually. His red eyes focused on the silent redhead and he watched as a hand went up to scratch at his chest, right under the opening of his unkempt shirt.

For a moment the gunman thought he had something there and did not even realize his hand raised to copy the action until he felt the soft bandages under the pads of his fingers. His gaze dropped when he saw the bright smile under those red slashes – tattoos? scars? – and he felt his cheeks heat up though there was no reason for it.

“Do you mind calling Shelke? I must speak with her for something.”

Finally the redhead moved more than that scratch on his chest and he rose, stretching out his slender frame and lifting on his toes, his hands high above his head and brushing the ceiling of the small room. Vincent realized for a moment that the lanky redhead was almost as tall as him, barely a few centimetres shorter, though he appeared much less intimidating with his carefree attitude and slightly hunched position.

“Sure. Need a smoke anyway,” he took out his pack and spun one between two fingers before the filter landed in between his lips.

“Can y—” Vincent paused when he realized his hand was reaching out for the redhead. Reno froze for a moment and the gunman dropped his hand and sighed. “Stay for a moment.”

“Oookay…?” he pulled the cigarette from his lips, confusion written on his features as he moved back to the chair.

“No, wait…” the gunman voiced again and finally his eyes locked with the redhead. “Lock the door,” his voice was harsher and the redhead immediately obeyed the command. “Now give me one too,” he reached out and finally a smile of understanding split the redhead’s lips.

“Sure thing, man,” he handed one to the man and while Vincent’s slightly shaking hand placed it between his lips Reno lit his own. He leaned forward then and with practiced ease lit the other man’s cigarette before hiding the lighter in one of his pockets.

The gunman took a long drag of the cigarette and closed his eyes before exhaling it above him as if a sigh. “Thank you.”

“Yer welcome… and thank you, fer finally lookin’ more human.” Vincent arched a brow in question and the redhead grinned wider. “After that little self-contemplative, thoughtful, whatever-the-fuck-it-was session ya had in the bed when ya woke up, I was startin’ ta wonder if ya were really human, or jus’ really good at fakin’ it.”

“What if it’s both?”

Reno smirked when he noticed one corner of those pale lips lifted lightly in amusement. “Just my luck to find me a tough egg ta crack and one with an attitude to boot.”


	6. A New WEAPON

Four weeks later only Reeve, Cid, Yuffie, and Shelke knew about Vincent’s condition and from Shelke’s calculations and brief experimentation on some samples she concluded that Vincent’s body would not survive reaching past the age of thirty-five. According to her calculations and the fact that the progress was slowly speeding up, her original estimate of three years was wrong and the man would either be dead in six months, or he would be sixty in a year and a half.

The sudden news had angered the gruff pilot in their group and Cid was the first to question the other. That was also when he pointed out that Vincent had started smoking after the whole Omega incident happened.

That was also when Vincent revealed to them that the demons were gone along with his abilities to heal and his sixth sense, though he failed to mention the emotions that he never felt anymore. He could not even feel guilt for lying to them about this for almost a year now, or remorse when he thought of the past with Lucrecia. Just thinking about it left him empty and contemplating as to _why_ he should be feeling that way in the first place.

Reeve took in a deep mouthful of air as he breathed in the fresh air of the greenery outside Kalm. A week after Rufus had come into the building he had sent military teams to every headquarters of the WRO around the planet and had gained power back. Only Gongaga and Nibelheim were still under the rebel’s rule. Both towns had wanted to remain out of the scuffle with this new government and had unknowingly joined forces.

And these forces had just recently become popular worldwide. Although Arma Regal was obviously not the instigator on the part of this, he has now become the face of MAYHEM.

“So when was that blonde jerk gonna tell us about this?” Cid scowled as he looked at the sheets of information Yuffie had gathered for them regarding this new group. In true AVALANCHE fashion they used just one word in all capitals to proclaim themselves. The meaning of the word already had many against them, but much more than imagined had joined in their cause. The fact that Arma Regal, one of the most popular faces on the news since Sephiroth and Cloud themselves, appeared to be leading the group, caused many more members to join in.

It was now a worldwide pandemic of pure _mayhem_ where protests were starting against authorities in almost every village. Rufus had informed them not that long ago, along with Yuffie to back up the information, that Wutai was staying out of these conflicts by automatically jailing any who claimed to be part of the rebellion. Also that Mideel was working on converting the supporters of that group as workers to gather more supplies for any needing them around the world and sending them off to the Chocobo Farm to help out.

The one thing that annoyed Cid to no end and had the other members of the WRO angry at the blonde president though was the fact that said president had forgotten to mention one little detail: this rebel group was claiming to have found a new WEAPON.

According to many sources, Yuffie having stretched her thin limbs across the world to gather information, this small group was now the backbone of MAYHEM and the cause for over a hundred dead WRO operatives around the world. There was no information of the WEAPON though and Rufus had given generous amounts of money to the researchers of WRO to try and find out how many weapons the planet had.

It was four weeks after Vincent’s hospitalization for a short while, the man still healed faster than average even if it was slower than his previous abilities, that this new piece of information became vital to the group. At first this new rebellion against WRO was understandable but now it worried the group. Earlier this morning Rufus and his Turks had sent them a video when they had captured somebody from MAYHEM. The video was gruesome, the torture made Yuffie green in the face and Cid’s cigarette be chewed to bits, but it had gotten its point across.

The naked man, drugged so far into oblivion that he was drooling and slurring every word he said, his eyes glazed over and covered in his own excrement, had spoken of an entity so powerful that other mutations of the planet had disappeared merely by being within a certain distance of it. The creature resembled a devil dressed like an angel, contained in a crystal of Mako that it could not break, yet still powerful enough to growl and project itself into the minds of those around it.

It had caused one of the men of their group to turn his gun on the others before turning it on himself. It was their boss that had walked in on the massacre inside the cave.

Although Reeve did not approve of Rufus’s methods, he appreciated the results.

This new information was also presented to Arma Regal by the WRO themselves, though in a much more subtle manner than the gruesome torture video, but the man had taken it in stride. His speeches changed. He wanted the world to be fixed but instead of questioning the WRO and their newfound partner Rufus Shinra, it threatened them.

_“If the Shinra dogs can summon up fifty of the damn monsters and join to AID in fixing the planet, then why can’t we? The way I see it, the way all of those research papers prove it, those WEAPONs protect the planet, so why not set one free and see who it goes after? I can bet the Lifestream that it will jump after the WRO and that Shinra bastard first!”_

Vincent could just imagine the words sprouting from the man’s lips that very same evening. Yuffie had tugged on her hair when she spoke them earlier, copying his Northern accent with a slight hitch in her voice.

“What is this new WEAPON?” Reeve questioned, arms crossed behind his back. He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. “Although I hate to say it, I agree with Rufus on this matter. I say we allow the Turks to deal with this while we continue as we were. Barret, how has the testing gone for the new mineral you found?”

“Not good,” the large man growled, “it takes more energy to break it down than you get from it.”

Reeve sighed, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing in contemplation. Vincent stood amongst the group on their small outing. The leader of WRO liked to have the wind blow through his hair as he thought so recently they have had quite a few of these. Something was greatly troubling the older man and Vincent had at one point hoped it was not his condition but gave up on that thought shortly after.

Yuffie gave her report of most recent activity around the world and that Wutai is coming to their way of thinking, may actually sign an agreement with the WRO in the near future regarding both a new power-source and government. After her, Shelke gave the statistical data of how many men they had lost in the past week due to skirmishes with MAYHEM and reminded Reeve of the conference in three days that he had to hold. Cid informed him of the status of their air fleet. Ever since Rufus had joined and that annoyingly perceptive brat of the Turks came to help him with his ships, they had been able to get out all shipments of supplies on time for the first time in months and almost the entire fleet was in working order.

Lastly the leader of the WRO looked at Vincent. The man had been the one that followed up with the research team of the WEAPONs and gathered information from the Turks to bring back to them. Once Vincent gave his report, which had no more information than last time he gave it, the group fell into silence.

“This was a lot easier years ago when I didn’t have to worry about the planet turning on us for using it,” Reeve sighed and reached into the tree branches above him to snap off a leaf and walk towards the group. “I know everyone is against it, but I suggest trying natural energy once more.”

“No mako!” Yuffie was the first to yell out while the others looked at Reeve either in anger or surprise.

“No, no, not mako. I was thinking water,” he turned to the others and noticed their confused expression. “A river never stops running, It may over-flow, it may dissipate, but either way there is enough warning beforehand of such events. We already have waterwheels used in some of the farms; we just need to think on a bigger scale. Obviously there is a need for rivers in this matter, but it may work.”

“What of places further in-land where there are no rivers? Even Edge is not that close,” Shelke questioned softly.

“And the Northern Continent? Any rivers they have that far up north freeze in their coldest times.”

“Same as with any of the island chains,” Shelke nodded after Vincent’s statement. “Unless we can find a way for the tide coming in to be used as well, but that is too unpredictable in the best of weathers.”

Reeve nodded and after a bit more brainstorming and few more minutes of walking around they returned to the _Shera_ so Cid could take them to drop some off back at headquarters while taking others to the western continent.


	7. Missing Highland

_“Why will you not take us seriously?”_ the voice questioned on the screen and Reeve had to suppress shudders as he watched the man known as Arma Regal staring at him from across the communication link. This new technology had startled him when one of the younger members of the WRO had invented it, but it had become surprisingly helpful and he had kept it, demanding that all WRO headquarters had it.

“Mr. Regal, I apologize for any—”

 _“Do not apologize!”_ the man was tall with very pale skin and light features, his bone structure showing him as a born native of the Northern Continent with an accent to match.

“You have broken into four of our places now. This is a serious offence in regards to—”

 _“Whose laws?”_ the man questioned back and Reeve was starting to get a headache. If it weren't for the other members of the WRO crowded around him he would have just ended the conversation with a slap of the ‘off’ button. _“The laws that Shinra put up before almost destroying the planet?”_

“You didn’t have any problems with Shinra a few years ago when your wife fell ill and had to be treated with mako,” Reeve pointed out with a slight glare and noticed the surprise on the man’s features. “If you are going to become a public face for a rebel alliance and something as powerful as MAYHEM, which I am sure you cannot even comprehend the power of, then do not use your real name.”

The man on screen sputtered and stared like a fish out of water, trying to come up with a comeback but unable to do so at Reeve’s hard glare.

“Mr. Regal, I would like to warn you. We have received news of what this MAYHEM group is capable of and we are very wary. We informed you that they may have found another WEAPON and are looking for the opportune moment to release it. _You_ simply used that to boost your popularity. What is it you’re fighting for again?”

 _“How dare you!?”_ the man growled loudly. _“I am fighting for the people around the world that have not received your help! I am fighting for the ones that cannot stand up on their own!”_

“What you are doing is uniting them by creating a common enemy, correct?” Reeve shortened the statements by interrupting and cleared his throat. He was having the worst day possible and having this fame-crazed rebel appearing to make claims did not make him happy at all. “I just have one question for you, sir, are you aware of this?” he held up a piece of written in a neat hand-script, the writing undistinguished through their connection.

_“What is it?”_

“It is a letter stating one of the members of my team, and a very close friend of mine, has been kidnapped by your group. That, no matter what government takes control, is a serious crime. Are you willing to admit to it?”

_“Kidnapping?”_

“It says you are trying to make a point and all of your current tries have been a failure,” Reeve glared at the piece of paper with lines of hatred marring his features and making him appear even older than his thirty-nine years of age. “I will not take such a matter lightly and if you return Mr. Highwind to us immediately and turn yourselves in, I will take pity on your efforts and allow you to aid us in reconstruction around the world. Now, where are your comrades in this?”

 _“I… I don’t know what you are talking about!”_ the man appeared to have suddenly grown a backbone. _“I am the leader of MAYHEM and I have not done such a crime. I detest any who dare use the name of our organization in such a crude manner, however I am much more insulted that you would dare to blame us!”_

Reeve scoffed and was about to speak insults to the man when he straightened his frame and raised his chin. _“I wanted to inform you that Corel, Rocket Town, and Costa del Sol are currently under our control as well.”_

The conversation ended and Reeve finally allowed himself to swear boldly and throw the piece of paper away from him that stated Cid Highwind was no longer within reach. They had nobody to lead the WRO air force now, nobody that knew how Cid worked well enough to continue everything without him. All the supply routes, the information on splitting it up between ships, where every ship went – Cid did not bother to write down too much of it. They had taken a very important member of their team. How the gruff pilot had gone questioned many and caused for jokes about how wounded his assailants must be. But the fact that Venus Gospel was still in his sleeping quarters aboard the _Valentine_ , the third of Cid’s most famous and prized ships, gave a lot more worries than jokes.

“What is the status of this week’s shipments?” Reeve questioned behind him where over thirty members of the WRO were crowded, waiting for his orders on the matter.

“I’ll go check!” more than a few scrambled to get the information needed.

“While you are all waiting for it, I want you to call Vincent and Shelke to me right away,” Reeve ordered with a stern voice, not once looking over his shoulder at the people lined behind him. They all startled scrambling for the three simple commands and within minutes one of them was already completed. Vincent walked into the meeting room Reeve had been occupying since receiving the letter and checking that Cid was, in fact, gone without a trace from their facilities. The leader still had the nagging thought that the man had come on his own and some of those people would be searching for him for hours.

“Have you confirmed Cid’s disappearance?”

Vincent nodded and strode into the room to sit on one of the comfortable chairs around the table. “Shelke was able to do her _dive_ into the security aboard the _Valentine_ and find the recordings of Cid’s departure. It was very hard to find and it was not pretty.” Vincent still scowled every time talk of the _Valentine_ came up. He was honoured that his friend named a ship after him but at the same time pissed off. Why not name it _Kisaragi_? Or even _Reeve_ or _Cait Sit?_ But no, Cid had to specify that Vincent had been his closest friend from AVALANCHE days and will continue to be so whether he wanted to or not. And he had proven quite resilient to Vincent’s attempts to get rid of him, although none of them were really that serious.

A moment later Shelke came into the room and right after her a young woman bearing the third piece of information Reeve had requested. Shelke waited for the woman to finish her report as she sat at the table and ran her hands over it as if smoothing a cloth.

“All of the shipments are ready and have been labelled, just waiting for _Shiva’s Dance_ and _Odin’s Blade_ to return and all ships will be able to leave on schedule.” Reeve was actually surprised by this. When his expression showed that to the woman a pink blush adorned her cheeks and she looked away. “One, Reno of the Turks, had taken care of the shipment for this week since Mr. Highwind had been busy with other matters.”

“Reno,” understanding dawned on the WRO leader and Reeve nodded. “Contact President Rufus and tell him I will need Reno within my services for the time being. Inform him of anything he enquires that you know of.”

“Yes, sir,” the woman bowed and disappeared down the hall before the door to the meeting room slid closed.

“What is it Reeve?” Vincent asked with a curious red gaze on the older man.

“Don’t say that Vince. I just found out one of my friends has been kidnapped while another one is due to die in a few months. Have at least some sympathy for me.”

Vincent sighed softly and nodded, working to unbuckle his mantle and taking both it and his cape off. His gauntlet followed shortly after and the other two watched curiously as he started to undo the buckles of his shirt but kept the buttons on. “The conference later today, what will you say?”

“I must inform the public of what MAYHEM is capable of and warn them to stay away.”

“Of course,” Shelke nodded. “I suggest we inform them of everything that MAYHEM has been doing so far. And most of all, I suggest we gather evidence of this WEAPON they have found. I know we said we’d leave it to Rufus and his men, however we have almost everything straightened out here.”

“I don’t think Rufus would take lightly to me taking away his second-in-command to do errand jobs for us.”

“Giving out supplies is not an errand job,” Shelke scolded the older man. “Do not worry about such trivialities at the moment. Once Reno comes back he can describe Cid’s system either to one of the better behaved amongst the pilots or myself and I can supervise the loading.”

“We cannot afford to keep you away from gathering information for us,” Vincent pointed out.

“One day a week I will be sorting shipments. And anyways, we will get Cid back soon, so there is no need to worry about any of that. I just believe that Reno would be better help out there than in here.”


	8. Reluctant Partners

“Do you think we should have told Cloud and Tifa about this?” Barret questioned as he walked beside Reeve down the hall towards the supply docks where Reno was currently sorting through all the stock and trying to teach Cid’s system to a few other members. If some stuck with one and the rest with another they would get the job done, as Reno had said.

“I don’t want to worry them. Tifa has enough to worry about with Denzel and Marlene, and Cloud is never answering his phone anyway. I have sent Yuffie to contact Nanaki however, he must be aware that MAYHEM is succeeding in taking over most of the Western Continent. Once she is done with that, she will be on her way to Wutai along with Tseng to try and seal the negotiations with us.”

Barret nodded slowly in understanding.

The moment the door to the supply docks opened a loud shrill whistle, commotion and yelling, and the testing of the engines of airships all at once blew both men back. At the head of it all was one annoying redhead, standing at the top of a few supply crates with both hands around his mouth and yelling about something or another. After a box fell somewhere in the distance the redhead whistled loud, the shrill sound echoing in everyone’s heads before the point got across.

Reeve and Barret made their way across the space to the redhead and looked up at his position on a few crates. There were dozens of cigarette butts near their feet and they watched as the redhead was agitated enough to light another one and wasn’t even able to take a proper drag before he had to whistle again and yell at somebody in the distance.

“Reno!” Reeve called loudly above the clamour.

“Yo!” the redhead grinned down at them but the light from his eyes was gone. “What’s up?” he jumped down from the top crate to the bottom and crouched there to be only a few heads taller than the two men.

“Is there anybody here who understands this yet?”

Reno looked around and scratched at the back of his head, cigarette still between his lips. “Honestly? There is this one guy from Mideel that gets it, but he’s the enginee’ fer the _Fat Chocobo_. And that ship’s more fucked up mess than any piece ‘a crap I’ve ever seen! Nobody else would understand it, if anythin’ happened to it. They need ‘im. There is also this one chick from Cosmo, her problem is that she’s a bit shy and ya need to be loud for this. I’ve been joking with her ta use a megaphone, but poor girl blushes like crazy if I _look_ at her, let alone flirt.”

Reeve shook his head and looked around. “Well… she’s gonna have to do. Rufus is sending you out with Vincent for a special mission.”

“Why me?” Reno cocked a brow. “Tseng gets along better with him than I do.”

“Tseng is in Wutai, he’s to aid Yuffie in closing the deal with them,” Barret shouted over the frenzy.

“‘Lena? Rude?”

“You’re perfect for it, just shut up and agree.” Barret scowled, hating to have to compliment the lanky redhead. He still held a grudge towards him even if Reno and his partner had aided in saving most of the kids during the Sephiroth’s clones incident two years back.

“Yea, yea… ‘old on,” he got back atop the crate, looked everything over and deemed that it was good enough for now. He then whistled loudly again causing Barret to swear up at him and Reeve to groan in pain. He called a name through the crowd and moments later a slim young woman appeared. She easily climbed atop the crate and both men immediately felt sorry for her when Reno turned on whatever charm he had and easily subdued the girl into his role.

“When do I gotta leave?” he called down at the two though his eyes did not pull away from the woman’s slender form as she leaned over one side of the crate and started yelling out orders. In their opinion the woman had more than enough guts to send out the orders, what shy had Reno been talking about?

“Now!” Reeve scowled, knowing what was running through the redhead’s mind.

Reno grinned and jumped down the crates again, this time landing near the two men and following them out of the noisy area and back towards the quieter parts of the building. They were in the headquarters in the Junon Area since that was the best area for Cid’s ships to lift of and fly off with supplies. It was also the closest open area to the Chocobo Farm that had now taken over the entire east side of the continent with the production of enough food for most of the world.

“Are you ready?” Vincent’s deep voice startled the group as the tall man joined them in their walk.

“Sure, whatever,” Reno shrugged.

“You have the device?” Vincent nodded slowly and looked over said device. It appeared just as one of Shelke’s hand-held computers and worked in the same manner, however it had the added qualities of the new video-communication Reeve liked to use and a built-in-sensor one of the youngsters of the team had come up with to track the WEAPON down. “Alright, Reno your helicopter is on the landing pad on the roof.”

“My baby is here!?” Reno gasped in surprise, a wide smile splitting his features. “Oh… my poor baby! I gotta go see her!” he ran off suddenly, ignoring anything else the others had to say and disappearing up the stairs.

Reeve shook his head and nodded to Vincent. “I hope he doesn’t cause you too much trouble.”

“He’s a Turk, that’s his job.” Both Barret and Reeve smirked at Vincent’s joke.

“Okay, get going whenever you want to. Your top priority is to find proof of the WEAPON, otherwise you’re looking for any legal reason why MAYHEM should not be functioning.” Reeve shrugged and looked away for a moment, pretending to be innocent. “If you just happen to find their hideout, that works too.”

The gunman looked the other man over and a small smile split his features though was immediately hidden behind his mantle. He nodded and disappeared up the same stairs Reno had run up moments ago. By the time he got on the roof Reno had already checked his _baby_ out and was looking at the logbook, scratching at something with a scowl.

“Are you ready for lift-off?”

Reno shook his head and lifted a cigarette in the air before dropping it to his lips and continuing to scratch inside the log. A few moments later Reeve appeared on the roof.

“I completely forgot something,” the leader spoke with a gasp, revealing that he had run up the stairs. “These are for you. One of the kids in the medical department came up with the idea. I know that adrenaline helps you but it’s not good for your body and that mako is good but hard to come by now a day. These are a mix of the two, a more prominent dose, and what’s used for HASTE so it can help you out. Try one on the ride see if they do you any good, contact me if they do and I’ll see to it that you have more whenever you need them.”

Vincent looked over the case with ten injections and stared at it in confusion. After a moment he nodded and pocketed the case somewhere on his person before turning back to Reno. “You ready now?”

“Yea, yea… good ‘nough…” the redhead grumbled as he walked up to the other two men. “By the way Reeve,” he pulled something out of his pocket and Reeve looked at the small object that appeared much like the blades of a helicopter. “Wind to move somethin’, that would create friction and in turn energy to be changed ‘round however ya want ta,” he spun the blades and let them fly into the air between them before dropping. Reeve caught them in his palm and stared at them in wonder. “If weather is da problem, make it da solution.”

The redhead grinned cheekily and turned back to the helicopter, Vincent following silently after him.

By the time they were off the roof Reeve was inside the building already and no doubt putting this newest idea to the test. “So there _is_ a brain somewhere in there?” Vincent questioned with a raised brow.

“There is, even if it’s on vacation usually.” Reno only smirked and turned to face the older man. “Which way?”

“At the moment? Anywhere.”

The redhead did not question the command and started off in the direction they were already facing. The small helicopter travelled quickly over the air and the redhead only had to wonder as to _why_ he was assigned on this mission with the silent ex-Turk.


	9. Getting Closer

Reno admired the ex-Turk; he was practically a legend amongst them all, though none dared say that to him. The reason for that was obviously something he would not like to share. He looked the man over and felt the tell-tale signs of arousal in his body. The man was beautiful, powerful, and his personality, though a little quiet for Reno, was just right. He could do less with the pensive and remorseful side, however as much as he had heard about it, he had not witnessed either since Rufus and the WRO joined as one. The man just looked bored or tired all the damn time!

“So how are we gonna find whatever it is we’re lookin’ fer?”

“With this,” Vincent motioned to the small tablet that had been sitting blank on his lap since lift off. “If I can figure out how to turn it on,” he admitted without any sound of discomfort or embarrassment.

Reno laughed lowly, not making fun of the man but enjoying how strange he was. “Button on the bottom right, on the side,” Vincent found the indicated button and pushed, nothing happened. “Slide it up,” he did so and screen flickered for a moment before a small triangle appeared as it spun around while loading.

“Thank you.”

“Welcome!” the redhead grinned widely. “So… how does it work?”

“It reacts to changes in the Lifestream that have similar composition as that of the previously shown WEAPONs. It apparently beeps like ‘a sensor for Cid’s mouth’ once you get close enough.”

Reno smirked at that but after a moment the smile disappeared. “Yo… wouldn’t it beep like crazy all the time then?” Vincent raised eyebrow was prompt enough for him to continue. “Ya got one of those buggers in ya, don’t ya?”

“Excuse me?”

“That Chaos thing? Ain’t it sorta like a WEAPON?”

Vincent looked at the redhead in confusion and after some silence Reno’s gaze tore from the view and controls to stare back at the man. “Hey… everybody in the Turks know about that, can’t hide anythin’ from Shinra!”

“I don’t have Chaos anymore… I was surprised as to why you’d think it to be alive?”

“No? So wait… it died in that whole fiasco with Omega a year ago?” Vincent slowly nodded. “Explain that ta me, please? I understood that the two counter-balanced each other on appearing at da same time…”

“Yes… Chaos was more of a semi-weapon, not full WEAPON created by the planet. It was created by the corruption and impurity of the people and planet. It was destroyed along with Omega in their final stance.”

“But… if they are not equal, shouldn’t’ve killed ya too?” Reno looked at the older man, who should have appeared younger but Reno thought he looked the same twenty-nine as himself, and the red eyes pierced him on the spot. “I mean… think of this way: a WEAPON is equal ta one-hundred so a semi-weapon then would be equal ta, let’s say fifty. So da other fifty or so would have ta come from ya, don' it?” Vincent nodded slowly at the logic behind it. “So… if ye ain’t dead, then how do ya know that bat-bastard is dead?”

For an answer Vincent turned the small screen of the hand-held computer to Reno to show him a map with a small red dot to indicate their position. “Do you hear it beeping?”

“Hey, don’t snap at me. Makes sense ta me.”

“I agree it makes sense… but Chaos is not a sentient being. It needs a host to function, a body that can sustain the transformation and aging proce…ss.” The last word slowed down as something came to Vincent’s mind. “Head to the western continent. We’ll look over the eastern on our return.”

“Sure,” Reno voiced with a shrug but decided better than to question.

Long moments of silence passed between the two accompanied only by Reno’s humming and the light tapping of one finger on the flight controls. Both seemed perfectly fine with that as the only thing to fill the silence. They had passed over Junon where the screen had beeped but they confirmed it was only the long-lost trail of when the Sapphire WEAPON had attacked the city those years ago. Both became slightly worried that if it could pick up something that old they were in for the ride of their life, but after trailing the Sapphire’s obvious path of attack out into the ocean the signal died out.

“Maybe it only registers da attack?” Reno suggested with a shrug.

“The Lifestream could still be trying to heal that area,” Vincent added with a thoughtful gaze at the redhead.

The silence continued afterwards and the two seemed perfectly comfortable in each other’s presence.

The man nodded slowly, his eyes threatening to close. It was nearing nightfall and by the time they arrived to the Eastern continent it would be at least mid-afternoon the next day. He glanced at Reno, noticed the redhead was setting a few dials and options on the helicopter. “Grab some shut-eye,” he spoke without looking at the older man. “I’ll wake ya if there’s any problems or news before we reach the other continent.”

Vincent was insulted that he was the one to sleep, he was used to disappearing in the corners of the _Highwind_ or _Shera_ or even the _Valentine_ and making people wonder what he was doing. They did not need to know that he _was_ becoming more human by the minute and needed to not only sleep more than before, but to rest quite often. Thirty years sleeping in a coffin with only one pee-break were apparently not enough for his body.

Mid-afternoon the next day Reno ‘accidentally’ nudged Vincent and the man was immediately awake. Neither spoke of the ending of the night and for a moment the older man felt guilty that Reno had to watch over him.

Once they saw land Vincent looked back down at the screen in his lap and shifted some in his seat. “Ya alright?” He decided to try those injections Reeve had given him. Digging out the small box he pulled one out and his eyes narrowed in question. Did it matter where he injected it?

Reno noticed the object in his peripheral vision and was suddenly startled into staring at the older man.

“What is that?”

“I was told it is a mix of adrenaline, mako, and a low dosage of HASTE.” He started unbuckling his mantle, figuring it would be easier to inject it in his neck than to either undo his glove or roll up the tight sleeve of his other arm. Once the mantle was set beside him he undid the top buckles of his shirt followed by the buttons. The syringe felt weird in his clawed hand so he cocked his head to the other side to use the right hand.

“Do ya want me ta help?” Reno asked after a moment when he realized how inconvenient it must be to have that claw. Vincent stared at him for a moment before handing the syringe over and moving his long hair out of the way. “Jugular?” he asked and the ex-Turk nodded. He removed the cap, squeezed some of the liquid out, and set it at the man’s neck. He ignored the scars that appeared to circle around and criss-cross, it was as if somebody had continually tried to strangle the man with a thin wire. He had seen them in the hospital and still thought better than to question.

After injecting him and breaking the needle of the syringe he grabbed one of the small plastics in the case that Vincent never would have guessed what were for and placed the used syringe in it. That went back in the case and the case closed.

“How do you know how to do this? Unless Turk’s standard training has changed over the last—”

“Used to be a mako-junkie,” Reno admitted suddenly and faced forward. “I ain’t ashamed to admit it, just ashamed that I had ta resort it when on the streets. Mind ya, I was clean about it, but it ain’t something I’m proud of.”

After a moment of silence and Vincent having placed the package away he nodded. “This is the reason I believe Chaos is dead. Since the Omega battle I have not felt him inside me… the silence is…” _welcoming?_ “…deafening.”

Reno nodded slowly, understanding that this was not a topic that the other man would normally speak of so freely. “I am not indestructible anymore. I still heal faster than normal, but not at the insane speed that I used to have before. My body is trying to catch up to the missed time and the pain is unbearable.”

Reno looked the man over carefully. “I’ve heard of yer transformations, the demons inside ya. Cid told me how they sometimes used ta happen without da need fer a limit break… I can only imagine how much pain those were, and yer sayin’ this hurts more?”

Vincent nodded slowly and closed his eyes, resting his head back against the seat. “This is like a slow torrent that will never end. The others at least ended quickly, as painful as they were. This is pure torture… and the silence is even worse.”

“Those guys used ta talk ta ya?” Reno smirked, trying to make light of the situation without insulting the man.

“No… not talk.” Vincent shook his head. “They showed me what they felt. I felt it as well. Their intentions became my own and their goals became my desires. Now… I have nothing left of them or myself.”

“Ya sayin’… ya don’t want anythin’ anymore?”

Vincent shrugged lightly. “Remember when you watched me in the hospital those weeks ago?” Reno nodded slowly and though Vincent still had his eyes closed he continued. “I was contemplating what was taken by which demon when they left.”

“And what did ya come up with?”

“Passion, judgement, remorse, and will.”

Reno scoffed lightly and glanced at the screen in the older man’s lap. His eyes slowly travelled up his body and took note that Vincent had not bothered to do-up his shirt again. He reached out, cold fingers against the scarred neck and startling the older man into opening his eyes. He did not pause though as his fingers ran over the thin ridges of the scars. “Are these from before or after da experimentation?”

Vincent’s red eyes narrowed at the redhead. “Before.”

“Hmm… have a similar set,” he pulled his arm back and rolled up the sleeve of both his blazer and shirt of his left arm. He revealed the thin bands that circled his forearm closer to his elbow and crisscrossed. “Some bastard tried to strangle me but I was lucky ‘nough to catch the wire ‘round me arm instead of neck. Bad part is he kept on winding and pullin’. Couldn’t use ma arm fer two months and that’s after a lot of doses of curaga and high potions!”

Vincent nodded lightly and his gloved fingers ran over the ridges of his neck. “Some bastard _did_ catch me around the neck with a strangling wire,” he muttered, eyes gazing off into the distance. “I don’t remember all the details, just remember blowing out his brains when I was free enough to do so.” He muttered and shook his head.

Reno grinned at the man and scratched at his chest, right below the opening of his shirt. “So… now that we’re on friendlier terms I just gotta ask…” Vincent raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Are ya a vampire?”

The screen in Vincent’s lap started flickering and slowly beeping. The more the helicopter moved the faster the beeping got and Vincent realized they were closing in on Lucrecia’s cave.


	10. Mayhem Ensues

The helicopter set down about an hour’s walk from the entrance of the cave and both men exited. They started walking towards the mountains and Vincent ignored the tug from the monitor in his hands, instead following the footsteps to the woman’s cave by memory.

Reno followed silently, noticing the beeping was going off randomly, getting off track before suddenly coming back stronger than before. He wanted to question as to where he was going, but a moment later he got his answer. They entered the Crystal Cave where Lucrecia had locked herself in one of the crystals above the pool where Chaos was born.

What was in the crystal though was not the woman’s slender frame in her white gown and peaceful expression. It was a gruesome mutation that Vincent immediately realized was Chaos.

He startled in his step and then both men _felt_ rather than heard Chaos speak to them. It recognized Vincent, its eyes snapped open behind the crystal and it wanted to tear it away and tear the man’s body apart.

“Yo… Vince... we should get outta here,” Reno noticed the small camp near one of the other exits of the cave and a moment later he recognized the red smudges around the crystal floor as blood. The older man would not move though and Reno worried for a moment that the demon was calling out to him. But he felt everything the creature was sending out. He felt the anger and blood lust that washed off in waves and had his hand itching for his EMR. He felt the sudden desire to rip something apart and watch the blood spray on his features before digging his hands and maw into the warm richness of red. Red as Vincent’s cape, his mantle, his _eyes_ to be torn out and stared at. He felt such arousal running through his veins like never before at the thought of the red-eyed man bleeding beneath him—

“Let’s get outta here man, we found what we were lookin’ fer…” Reno reached for the frozen man but his hand was slapped away. The screen fell to the ground and cracked. Voices sounded somewhere in the distance and Reno got even more worried. “Fuck!” Reno snapped out his PHS and dialled Rude. Where a regular phone would have no reception Reno had rigged his, using illegal means, for it work anywhere in the world if only to a short time.

Within moments he was connected, told Rude their location and situation in a few words and hung up.

“Vince, if we don’t get outta here now, we ain’t leavin’!” he reached for the man again but this time his arm was twisted in a painful hold. When he looked up into the man’s eyes he was surprised to find them a glowing gold instead of their usual red. He looked towards the demon in the crystal and noticed Vincent’s red eyes staring back at him.

“Fuck! Sorry for this, man!” he growled and with his arm still held in the twisted death grip he grabbed his EMR with the other hand, set the dial on lower power, and zapped the older man in his side. The electric shock ran to his own body but it got Vincent out of whatever trance he was in. The man shook his head and confused red eyes stared at the redhead that was rubbing his sore wrist. “Company. Out. Now!” Reno barked and the two quickly escaped.

They ran almost the entire way back to the helicopter, Vincent finally regaining himself. After a moment he felt his body morph and blend into his cloak before it bounced off the ground in a speedy run, wrapped itself around Reno, and continued in its way-ward flight back towards the helicopter. They were there in minutes and Reno was deposited on the ground while the red cloak circled around him a few times before circling around nothing and slowing when Vincent’s form appeared from its folds once again.

“How da fuck did ya do that?” Reno’s eyes widened in confusion and horror at the same time.

“I apologize for my behaviour inside the cave. We must report this development to Reeve and Rufus.”

“Fuck yea, we should. But first I deserve ta know why I almost got my wrist popped out of its socked.”

A moment of silence then Vincent decided. He had already told the male more than enough so a few more bits of information would not harm anyone. “Chaos. That is him inside of her body.”

“Inside 'a who’se body?”

“Doctor Lucrecia Crescent.” Reno’s eyes widened in sudden understanding. That was why the man knew the cave complex like the back of his hand and that was why he was frozen in front of her vision. But that did not explain the glowing yellow eyes nor the sudden trick of transportation they had achieved. When Reno mentioned that the older man crouched to the ground and hunched his frame slightly to hide his laboured breathing. “I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did in that form. It usually does not allow more than a few meter’s travel by myself, let alone with another person.”

“Then why try it?”

“Because I felt Chaos moving that way.”

“Wait! He’s back in your body!?” Reno shrieked suddenly, drawing his EMR in defence against the still man.

Vincent shook his head. “Actually… I don’t think he ever fully left. When I saw him in there I felt the anger he had towards me as if it was my own… but I also felt it wanted something from me. Maybe my body is more suitable than Lucrecia’s as his vessel, maybe there is a part of him still in me that allows some of these tricks to work. I do not know.”

Reno nodded and slowly dropped his guard. “Let’s go back to Junon and tell the others what we’ve found.”

“I thought you already contacted Rude to tell him? Is he not coming?”

“I did, but not for that. One thing we are taught is to pass on the information as quickly as possible once we realize it may be in danger. First thing Rude will do is contact Rufus to tell him that and if they deem it important enough then they will search for me or attempt any contact.”

“I see not that much has changed about the Turks.” Reno nodded and both men got back in the helicopter. Once Reno started the engine and blade rotation he turned to see Vincent remove his mantle, cape, gauntlet and the metal coverings of his boots. He reached for another syringe and this time with no metal claw hand he was able to inject himself with the substance. Reno watched in fascination as the man unbuckled every buckle on his shirt but kept the buttons closed. He closed his eyes, put his headset on, and leaned back in the chair. He appeared relaxed and asleep in moments and Reno wondered for a moment if he really was.

The redhead spoke something into the microphone of his headset, hearing his voice echo in the earpieces and knowing it would do the same for the set the gunman wore. No response came and for a moment the redhead was honoured that the man could relax enough around him to fall asleep. He reached over and ran his fingers over the thin ridges on the man’s neck, his eyes following his fingers down as he undid a few more buttons on the man’s shirt.

Reno did not notice the half-covered red eyes that followed his movements; his own aquamarine orbs with pieces of the moon in them were focused on the task bestowed upon his hands. They watched his pale, but still not near anywhere as white as Vincent’s own, fingers run through the scarred skin. Every so often they encountered a scar and that meant a lot since they had barely ran ten centimetres before he realized what he was doing. He opened the lapels of the shirt a little, looking at the collarbones and seeing the remnants of a bad stitch-job near one of them and a star-shaped scar on the other. He ignored the stitches and ran his fingers over the baby-smooth skin of the star-shaped scar.

His body moved closer and he did not even realize the simple fascination his fingers had started when all he wanted to do was allow the man to breathe a little easier on his trip back to the Junon Area. He continued his slow dance of the small, uncovered area on the older man’s chest before returning to the ridges on his neck. He wanted to know what those would feel like under his tongue. The redhead caught himself as he was leaning into the other.

The thought of touching the other man so intimately was arousing in and of itself, but what Reno found the strangest is that he was not so aroused as he was _interested_ in the other male. He wanted to know what was hidden beneath the rest of that black fabric. His gaze shot up to the other’s face and noticed the eyes were closed. He then noticed the red bandana had remained and figured it would be easier to sleep if his hair was not _all_ over the place. He worked carefully on removing the red cloth and once it was down he noticed another scar on the man’s forehead. It ran from one temple to the centre and had the same markings of it being stitched back together with the stitches forgotten for too long to allow the skin to heal over them before being ripped out to make the scar more gruesome.

Eyes of an exotic summer mix remained fixed on the scar while his fingers trailed gently down the man’s face, across the ridges of his neck, pushing the collar of the shirt open wider on the side and running down his left arm. His eyes focused on his own fingers when they touched the buckles of his elbow-high glove. It could not be that bad. Reno moved his body carefully to the edge of his own seat and started to undo the top buckle of the glove.

“ _That_ can stay on,” a hand landed atop his and a deep voice rumbled beneath him. Reno blushed a dark red and jumped back slightly, noticing the blood red eyes glazed over as they stared at him.

After a moment he regained himself and smirked. “Knew I should’ve gone fer da pants,” he turned away, using his cocky attitude as an excuse not to face the man. He didn’t notice the light curl of Vincent’s lips as the older man continued to observe the redhead quietly. They returned to the Junon base in silence.


	11. Little Tease

When Vincent and Reno arrived back at the landing pad in WRO’s offices in the Junon Area, the two men were surprised to see one of Cid’s old ships being torn apart not too far from the paved ground. They looked at one another in surprise before walking over to the group. Reeve, Barret, a few of the mechanics of the ships, and Shelke were in the grass field taking care of the entire process.

“Yo, man! Why the mess?” Reno called out as he stopped on the line between the pavement and grass. Vincent continued walking for a few more steps before he stopped. He looked over his shoulder at the redhead, motioned with his head, and continued to walk. Reno followed shortly after him.

“You gave me a brilliant idea when you left!” it was nearing sunset and though the group was surprised to see the two men back after only two nights, nobody mentioned it. “I’ve had a few of the boys in Urban Planning take care of the details for me and I’m sure Cid won’t miss this ship _too_ much—”

“That guy loves all of his ships,” Reno muttered.

“—so we decided to test out a smaller version of what we all came up with this morning.” Reeve continued as if Reno had never spoken. “Is it attached?” he called loudly and the two new members of the small team on the grass noticed as one of the propellers of the ship had been welded into place on a long metal pole, appearing much like the mast of a sea-ship.

“Small?” Reno sounded disbelieving. “Sure, yea… okay… that’s small.” He took out his pack of cigarettes.

“We don’t have another helicopter on the pad and we’re trying to figure out how to make this work with one of the smaller ships, but since you’re back you can help us.” Reeve continued, facing Reno. The redhead watched over the man’s shoulder as heavy cable ropes were secured around the propeller and lit his cigarette.

“Ever thought I may need a break, eh?” he groundout in annoyance as he put his pack away.

“As if you did much work today,” Vincent scoffed beside him, standing a little too close to the redhead.

“Ya know, flyin’ a ‘copter fer a two days ain’t easy work!”

“You’re saying you’ll let one of Cid’s men fly it?” Reeve actually looked hopeful. Reno was very protective of his bird and had not allowed anyone near her on his first trips back and forth. And he also had to let whoever flew it last have a piece of his mind on the way to treat his baby.

“I’ll do it. What do ya need?” he grumbled with the lit cigarette between his lips.

“Please put that out,” Reeve requested then turned back to the propeller. “We need to lift it straight up.”

Grumbling all the more the redhead stomped back towards his helicopter. Vincent followed a few steps behind and watched as Reno paced by the door of his baby while smoking his cigarette.

Without thinking of what he was doing the gunman leaned closer and stole the cigarette from the other before quickly placing it between his own lips, keeping the mantle down away from his face with one clawed finger. The redhead bristled and was about to start swearing before he noticed the glazed red eyes looking the man over.

“Find me when you are free… if you are not too tired.” He muttered with all the cool confidence only a playboy could possess and turned to walk back towards the building as Reeve neared the helicopter.

“So, what news of the WEAPON?” Reeve questioned when both men got inside the helicopter and put their headsets on. “Vincent said you guys found it, but I couldn’t get more out of him on the phone.”

“That’s ‘cuz the fuckin’ WEAPON is his ol’ buddy, Chaos,” Reno muttered as he started the controls and started chewing on his bottom lip. He never smoked inside his birdy and not having a cigarette for almost two days now was slowly killing him.

“Chaos?” the older man’s eyebrows furrowed. “How is that possible?”

Reno shrugged and flew the bird to land her right by the large propeller on the ground. He was surprised when a moment later a small plastic container, appearing like one to hold pills, was thrust in his face. “Cid uses these all the time when he can’t smoke, maybe they can help you.”

A red eyebrow rose and he opened to holder to see it full with red toothpicks. So typical! Even as he thought that he placed one between his lips and watched as Reeve instructed the men where to tie what cables on the helicopter. He was too tired to think of getting out of the bird and having a smoke outside, especially as a certain set of red eyes, slightly glazed over in what appeared to be lust, had invited him out tonight. He adjusted the waistband of his pants when he thought of what that invitation meant – what he _hoped_ it meant.

Five hours later, of Reno finally propping the small window of the helicopter open and lighting a cigarette, while hovering in the air as the large propeller was balanced and propped to stay up, he was able to go back to his own room and drop in his bed. They had given him a small place to sleep while staying with the team in the WRO headquarters and he was very grateful for the large, soft bed that occupied almost half of the room.

Then he thought of Vincent.

Getting up with a groan he got out his PHS and contacted Rufus. On the fifth ring he heard the blonde answer his phone and he smirked at the annoyed tone that sounded. “Hey Roofie.”

 _“Fuck you, Reno.”_ Yep, Rufus was drunk again. _“What do you want?”_

“Figured you’d wanna know what happened on my little trip away, mummy.”

_“Rude already told me. Chaos is back, in another body, and most likely in MAYHEM’s control.”_

“I doubt he is in anyone’s control,” the redhead slipped out of his blazer and undid the few buttons of his shirt that were actually done up. “But I don’t doubt that these idiots think he is and will let him go sometime soon.” He thought of the feelings that had been awoken inside him by the beast. He had to admit he’d always had a small thing for blood and rough play in sex, but he never would have imagined it magnified with the powerful gunman under him, covered in their mixed blood, his own red hair falling to the pale, but wet chest and blending with the blood, those red eyes glazed over in pleasure… “what?” he questioned, having heard Rufus speak but distracted at the thought that _Chaos_ may know he wants Vincent in such a sexual way!

 _“I said: then we find a way to shut them up!”_ Rufus was definitely drunk because he raised his voice. He was usually able to keep his cool for a lot longer around the annoying redhead. Especially over the phone. _“Elena and Rude are working with the new recruits and we have a few more teams ready now. They are all looking for their base of operations.”_

“Not with that Regal guy?” the shirt fell to the ground by his blazer and a moment later his belt was thrown on the bed.

 _“No. Whoever is the backbone of this little fiasco is actually smart. But stop distracting me!”_ Reno chuckled at the annoyed tone, his voice falling a pitch and his eyes half-lidded as he finally undid the fly of his trousers and let them slide down his legs as well. _“I am sending Mittaia…”_ he paused and Reno heard papers shuffling _“Darris, and Goriz to your location tomorrow afternoon. One of them will take over your job until their pilot is back and you will train the other two to work with you and alongside Vincent.”_

“Hmmm…” the information surprised him but the older man’s name made Reno run his hand teasingly up his chest to his red locks. “He’s never gonna agree ta work with another Turk as a partner.”

_“He just worked with you, didn’t he?”_

“Good point.”

_“I shall inform you of the rest… whenever.”_

“Night, Roofie!” the dial tone was his answer and Reno chuckled to himself again. He pulled the tie from his hair and flung his goggles across to the bed before slipping out of his socks and making his way to the private bathroom of his room. He needed a shower and might as well rub one out if the invitation by the older man was not what he hoped.

It was past midnight when Reno stepped out of his room and into a pair of borrowed clothes to look for Vincent. He had forgotten to take anything with him in his haste to help out in Cid’s stead, but was glad to find all necessities, even a razor and his favourite shaving cream (though obviously coincidental), in his new room. He was now in a pair of black slacks that resembled his Turk uniform and white-button down with red pin stripes that was different from his uniform not only in colour but also for the fact that it was ironed. He had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows and tied his hair in its usual ponytail, goggles holding the bangs in place.

Maybe it was a little late to look for the older man but if Reno found him wandering the halls, then he was obviously not asleep. An hour and three cigarettes later he had looked down all the halls and main conference and meeting rooms and found no Vincent. Maybe the man had retired for the night.

So Reno asked one of the night crew as to how to get to that balcony he had seen overlooking the airfield so he can enjoy the stars and a cigarette. On his way to said balcony he stopped by the large kitchen on the main floor and raided the bar for a bottle of scotch and a glass that he broke some ice into.

The night was chilly when he stood out on the balcony and he placed the bottle of scotch, after filling his glass, on the ingeniously placed table on the balcony. He had half-hoped that the older male would be there, or at least have waited for him somewhere obvious, but his hopes had crashed when all he saw was an ashtray with a dead cigarette in it.

He did not want to go to the man’s private rooms, although he had passed them on his trip through the building, for he was afraid if he had taken the invitation as something more. For the next two hours he lounged in a plastic chair with his feet on the railing, glass of scotch dangling in his hand, and cigarettes continually appearing and disappearing from between his lips. His eyes were staring at the stars and though they had threatened to close at one point, Reno denied himself sleep and forced his body into an adrenaline-like rush to wake him up – something all Turks and SOLDIERS of Shinra had been able to do due to their mako injections.

Just as he felt himself satisfied enough on drink and smokes to go back to his room and fall asleep, he heard a movement behind him and felt the warmth from another body right behind his chair. His head dropped back to look up and he did just in time to see the older man crouch behind his seat.

“Two nights of no sleep, you sure you can last a third?” the deep voice rumbled behind him but Reno did not startle, instead he watched as one hand slid from his shoulder down his chest while the gloved one reached over his other shoulder and stole the glass of scotch from his hand.

His eyes followed the glass as it disappeared over his shoulder and he licked his lips when the cool glass connected with the pair he wanted to devour. “Who said I don’ plan on sleepin’ tonight?” he joked back, wanting to get into a comfortable banter with the older male.

The uncovered hand was in his hair and yanked his head back harshly as the older man stood behind him and his now moist lips came past his ear to his cheek. “I did.” He growled before turning the younger man’s head and devouring his lips. Once they pulled apart Reno’s eyes opened and noticed the red pair laced with lust that gazed down at him. For a moment uncertainty sparked in those eyes but Reno’s lips quirked into a smile and the lust flared over all other emotions. “Join me.” The ex-Turk growled in command rather than question.

The redhead nodded slowly. As Reno was half dragged out of his seat by his hair he reached for the bottle of scotch. The bottle was never heard from again after it disappeared behind Vincent’s closed bedroom door.


	12. PASSION

The door to the older man’s bedroom closed and clicked locked before the light came on. Reno looked the place over. It was as small as his room with a bed as big as his. The only difference was the dresser against the wall opposite was full and there was a small wooden table and chair set in the corner behind the door. The table itself was completely occupied and Reno quickly recognized the infamous Death Penalty lying in a velvet-lined box and another gun he did not recognize pulled apart to be cleaned.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Vincent threw over his shoulder as he walked into his small bathroom.

With a smirk the redhead looked over the parts of the pulled apart gun and quickly recognized it as a bolt-action rifle, with quite a few modifications to make it work better. He walked to the dresser, refilled the glass that Vincent had taken from him and left there, and put his bottle down to take the glass instead.

Vincent came out of the bathroom a moment later and Reno finally noticed how he was dressed. A pair of black slacks adorned those slim hips, the usual metal coverings of his boots were gone and they appeared as regular knee-high boots above the slacks, and a black button down shirt clung to his muscles nicely. The ever-present glove on his left hand was buckled under the sleeve of the shirt, which was rolled up to the elbow.

“Hmm…” Reno smirked and walked up to the older man as he took a sip from his drink. His free hand came to his shoulder and he nudged the man to turn before pushing him to sit on the edge of the bed. “I like,” he answered the unspoken question and one leg came up to straddle the sitting man as his head ducked down to kiss him.

Their lips met in a much more restrained manner than the kiss on the balcony and Reno found himself liking the feel of the other man under him. His free hand ran up to the back of his neck and wound his fingers in the thick hair. When they pulled apart Reno took another sip from the glass of scotch. Vincent took the glass from him, took a sip for himself, and with one hand on the redhead’s hip guided him so he could lean down.

Reno dropped the glass off by the foot of the bed and Vincent’s gloved hand crawled up Reno’s one standing leg gently before going back to his hip. His red eyes focused up at the redhead once more and when Reno leaned down to kiss him Vincent’s hands wound around the redhead’s waist and one found purchase on his ass.

Reno moaned into the kiss, pushing back into the pressure on his ass and with hands on the older man’s shoulders until he was lying down. As soon as he was the other leg joined the first and he lay atop Vincent straddling him. “Hmm… ya taste _delish_ ,” Reno muttered as his lips connected to the other man’s neck and drawing a deep rumble from him in response. While one hand supported his body above the other man’s the other worked on pulling apart the buttons of his shirt. As soon as the path was cleared his lips followed. Vincent’s own hands followed the example but started from the bottom up, cold and gloved fingers alternatively brushing against the redhead’s stomach and making him shiver in response.

Reno kissed down the man’s chest, running his tongue across the star-shaped mark on his collarbone before slowly moving lower. When he was done with the shirt though he was surprised of the leather-covered hand moved into his hair and grabbed it roughly. His eyes focused on a large scar on the man’s abdomen and just as he was about to lean down to kiss it the hand in his hair tightened and pushed him further down, making him miss. He glared up at the man in annoyance but after noticing his head resting back and eyes closed Reno returned to his task. He wanted to hear some sounds from the man, damn it! He slid off the bed to rest on his knees between the older man’s legs and worked on the buckles of the belt before undoing the fly of the slacks.

Vincent’s hips lifted at the first tug then off the bed completely when his slacks and briefs slid off completely. The boots were easy to undo with only one buckle and a zipper each before they slid off to allow the slacks to disappear completely. He noted a pause in the redhead and immediately his eyes clenched shut. What the hell was he doing!? He was a fucking mutation! Why would the man go down on him? He released the hair so he could sit up and push the man off, but just as he sat up he felt a warm, wet heat envelop him.

“Fucking Shiva,” he moaned out, hunching over the head of red that immediately started working him into full arousal. His hands latched onto the Turk again and his gloved hand clawed up the man’s back and lifted his shirt when he felt the _little bitch_ swallow around him, tightening and constricting in the most pleasurable way possible.

A moment later the pressure ceased and turned to playful and teasing licks before pulling away completely. The gunman watched as Reno took the glass of scotch and took a large gulp from it, hissing it out, before standing up. He threw his shirt off completely and worked on taking off his slacks.

Right before they slid off he reached into his pocket and took out a small bottle that looked like eye drops and a package that Vincent recognized more easily as a condom.

“You come prepared?” he laughed softly and reached out to help the redhead by sliding his slacks off completely before running his hands up those amazing legs.

“Always, yo,” the redhead grinned and pushed the man back to lie down. “I am an optimist, scoot up.”

Vincent smirked at the words but instead of doing as told he sat up just as the redhead went to straddle him again. He kept Reno from falling, or moving, off by placing one hand on the back of a naked thigh and gripping hard and the other on the small of his back, trapping his ponytail to his back. “Now, now…” he muttered softly as his lips descended on the chest bared to him. “What makes you think I am listening to you?” he bit at a nipple and felt the hands on his shoulders tighten and heard the redhead moan. His fist then wrapped around the end of the ponytail and yanked harshly, bearing a throat that his teeth latched onto.

“Fuck… fine, whatever… just come on!” Reno started whining, his hips pivoting forward then arching his back so his ass could tempt Vincent’s gloved hand to reach for it. Once it did the redhead moaned even louder.

The older man just chuckled into the hollow of the redhead’s throat and yanked on the hair again, indicating for the redhead to get off of him. Once Reno was standing on shaking legs before him Vincent also rose, looking over the aroused and blushing mess in front of him,

The Turk glared at the older man then at the hand that had abused his ponytail, which waited open in front of him. The small bottle and condom were dropped there. Vincent’s gloved hand wrapped around Reno’s upper arm and easily spun the redhead around before practically throwing the other on the bed. Vincent was aching by the time he crawled onto the bed right after him. Shedding his undone shirt so that all he wore was the elbow-high glove.

When Reno regained himself to turn around it was just on time to see the older man slinking towards him like a deadly black Cuahl, as sleek and elegant as the lethal feline. Then those lips were on his again, tongue thrusting in his mouth in a weak imitation of what more he wanted. That deadly hand was in his hair again and it yanked once more, forcing the redhead to turn on his stomach as soon as the kiss was over.

Vincent kissed down the other’s neck and back, hands on hips now and pulled them up to let the redhead settle on his knees. His lips came to the small of the other’s back before his tongue connected with a long scar that ran the length of the other’s back and he went right back up to the neck following it. There he nipped right under the ponytail and his hands came to play as well, pulling at the elastic and finally freeing the cascade of blood over the other’s back.

He ran his fingers through the red hair and heard Reno moan under him before thrusting his hips forward, his length sliding between the other’s cheeks and away harmlessly. Reno moaned louder at that action.

The sex-drugged Turk felt the gloved hand that continued to rub through his hair, the worn leather catching on the sweat-damp tresses and tugging every now and then, causing slight discomfort but also working on arousing him even further. The sinful lips were running down his back once more and over to the curve of his ass before teeth nipped at one cheek and then disappeared completely. The hand from his hair disappeared as well and Reno propped himself up on his elbows, looking over his shoulder to see the older man open the small bottle and squeeze some of the lube onto his naked hand.

As annoyed as he was at the glove the redhead could not help but imagine what _that_ would feel like inside him. Still he did not want to voice that and when the first lubed finger entered him roughly he bit his lip to stifle a yelp and let it turn into a high-pitched moan instead. After some searching and prepping the redhead moved his hips back and without any warning the first finger slid out and two slid back in, stretching him further.

The lips were on the small of his back again and moving up before the saw the gloved hand resting near him as the older man held himself above the redhead. Reno watched as the gloved hand came down to the elbow and felt the other’s chest against his back, long black hair tickling his sensitive sides, and heavy erection resting against his outer thigh.

The Turk rocked back once more and after a moment the two fingers exited and returned with a third. They were slower this time in their intrusion but after a moment Reno felt the tell-tale pressure before climax even though his length had softened slightly. The teeth nipped at his neck and shoulder, and the cock by his thigh started moving slightly, a less intense version of the fingers that now pumped quickly in and out of him.

Reno moaned loudly, threw his head back and to the side to bear his neck to his attacker even more and hips thrusting back. Then his head dropped, summer eyes focused on the gloved hand and teeth quickly latched on the wrist.

The hand shook, Vincent hissed by his shoulder and the fingers inside him stilled, but the action got the point across. The fingers started moving even faster, rougher and making Reno’s hips snap back to meet them. And just as suddenly as they started they were gone. Reno heard the opening of the condom package, felt the sigh from the older man as he finally touched himself to put it on, and then felt the blunt end at his entrance.

The ex-Turk held himself as he slowly pushed in but he did not expect the redhead to snap his hips back and take him up until the hand around himself. He gasped, hand quickly moving off himself to grab at the other’s hips as the redhead slid further back. He heard the wince of pain from the younger man but it did not register. The tightness that surrounded him and held him was a much more overpowering thought now.

“Fuck,” Reno swore as he grabbed the sheets tightly and held his hips back against the other’s, feeling the soft curls against his ass and the heavy erection filling him so completely. “Fuck…” he swore again but remained still. He was glad Vincent also took pity on him even though he had forced them together without his approval.

Then Vincent’s gloved hand disappeared only to return above his left wrist. It lifted that hand and fell atop his right wrist and he felt the older man’s upper body weight land on his wrists before the first snap of hips had his head hanging and mouth open to let a moan and curse mix into the air.

And he started moving.

One hand on his hips to lead him back against him after every push and pull him tighter into every thrust. The other hand held his arms out of reach for any other contact and the redhead dug his nails into the covers and the back of his own hand. The older man’s long hair fell across his back and his talented lips latched onto his neck once more, licking and sucking, biting and _devouring_ his very being all the while claiming him with every powerful thrust.

“No… no, no… fuck!” Reno bit out, letting his head fall and forehead rest on his forearms as his hips started moving exactly as Vincent’s hand led them to.

“No?”

“No… fuck… fuck, touch me…”

Reno felt the smirk by his neck and knew the answer before it was whispered in that deep, velvety voice in his ear. “No.” Vincent’s voice was meant to be a sex voice, a deep rumble that vibrated through him as the older man spoke while penetrating him.

Reno moaned louder as the thrusts changed angle and his head moved back, giving the other male access to the already abused flesh of his neck. “Fuck!”

The glove was gone from his wrists a moment later and though he was free to touch himself the redhead could not think as the glove now gathered his ponytail. The weight and warmth at his back was gone and the ponytail was tugged harshly, snapping his head back and hips to try and speed up their pivoting into the older man. The tugging did not stop at just playful though and the hand from his hip moved to his front, right above his erection. It slid to his stomach then pulled up and Reno found himself resting on hands instead of elbows before the tugging and pulling continued and his back was once more connected to the other’s chest. He felt the heat of passion behind and inside him all at once.

“Fuck,” this new angle let the older man sink deeper into him and the thrusts slowed on speed but every one of them shook the redhead. He leaned his head back against the man’s shoulder, looking at the ceiling but seeing nothing but pure and blinding pleasure. His ponytail was still being tugged over Vincent’s shoulder and the other hand was holding his heaving chest so tight he felt he could not take a full breath.

The cock inside him slowly slid out before thrusting back in hard.

He shuddered at the action and one hand clutched at the one on his chest, at the wrist and tried to pry it away as if it was some monster sucking out his heart. The other hand ran down his own body, brushed his erection in teasing, but strayed to the body behind him and on the following thrust he ground back into the hips but his hand latched onto the other man’s ass and stilled him from moving.

A deep rumble echoed from inside him and only when the breath by his neck registered did he realize that Vincent was chuckling. “Now, now,” the older man scolded and pulled out of the hold inside the other to thrust up and in even harsher, making Reno moan loudly and the gunman to groan into his neck.

“Harder,” the redhead bit out and the thrust was repeated even harsher than before, the pressure on his head from his ponytail finally released when the gloved hand touched the heated skin of his hip. His own hand slid from the other man and to the gloved one before dragging it to his front and to his erection.

The next thrust surprised him even more because the sudden hold on his chest was gone, yanking his own hand away and he fell forward, landing face first into the pillows and sheets below. But he had no time to regain himself as the thrusts came harder, speeding up once again as the older man’s hips started snapping forward quickly.

The gloved hand grabbed at his erection and pulled, his own left hand grabbing at the sheets. The other hand however was twisted and held behind his back by the more powerful man. The weight on his back appeared for a moment and he turned his head to see those passionate lips descending on his shoulder and peeling back so sharp teeth could bite in. He moaned louder, “faster” he begged out and the request was quickly obeyed. Vincent moved back and his long, hard, quick thrusts became snapping short inside the younger man, orgasm nearing. The gloved hand worked at the same speed and soon Reno was screaming out as his orgasm rocked him, his hips pulling out of the desperate rhythm to find his own pleasure while at the same time seeking to escape the overflow of ecstasy.

Vincent’s hands slid away from his body to move to his hips and he held them, pulling them towards him with every thrust as his own body begged for release, his head thrown back and eyes clenched tight as he was seeking to jump off the ledge of pleasure along with the redhead. Reno continued to scream beneath him, the over-stimulation of his prostate slowly sending him into oblivion and his body shuddered as a dry orgasm wrecked through him, making tears gather at the edges of his eyes and his body to try and curl in on itself from the overflow and away from the flesh still penetrating him.

Then he felt the throb inside him and heard the deep groan from above and behind as Vincent found his own nirvana. His hips snapped in last minute tremors, riding out his orgasm inside the redhead and torturing him even more. Reno’s limp cock brushed against the soiled sheets beneath him and it sent painful sparks of pleasure up his spine to his brain.

“Fuck,” Reno’s voice felt raw and the older man slipped from him. His hips pivoted to the side and he fell on his side, away from the man that had given him his first dry orgasm in years. “Fuck.”

“I think you said that one already,” Vincent’s red eyes focused on him, the afterglow of orgasm making his own form fall to the sheets on the other side of the stain from the redhead. Reno chuckled as a response and closed his eyes, throwing a hand over them to hide the tears that were slowing down. Fuck it all, he knew they were not all from pleasure and none were from pain. “Are you alright?” Vincent gasped out.

“Ya rode me harder than a fuckin’ chocobo!” Reno seemed to complain but the smile on his lips echoed in his voice as he spoke. One thing he was really good at was lying. “I don’ think even Cloud’s bike coulda survived that.”

Vincent chuckled as a response before burying his face in the soft sheets. “I did not need to imagine that.”

Reno laughed in return. “Why not? Sex on that beast? Where do I sign up!?” the redhead seemed as enthusiastic as ever even as he continued to try and catch his breath. “Naah… don’t worry, I’ll live. Now for walkin’, however… that’s a differen’ story.”

Again the older man chuckled into the blankets and lifted his head. “Hmmm… you know that Cloud will skewer you if he ever knew you even thought that?” he nodded off at the chuckle that followed as an answer, red eyes slowly closing with the sight of the dishevelled redhead imprinted at the back of his lids. “One second,” he muttered and though with closed eyes he pushed himself up. The burned out passion had tired him out.

He slipped into the bathroom to clean himself up and came back out with a towel. His gloved hand locked around the redhead’s right ankle and startling Reno to look at him. Vincent just smiled in response, a small gesture that made him look all the more predatory in all his naked and scarred glory. He pulled the redhead’s legs apart and slid onto the bed between them once more.

“‘Nother round?” Reno was breathless in his laughter and disbelief.

Vincent only chuckled in response. “That will have to wait on my half.”

“Oh good!” Reno’s head fell back and he felt the man’s gloved hand under his thigh to lift his hips up. He helped him as much as his body could allow then shuddered when he felt the towel at his genitals, carefully cleaning him of any traces left behind. He moaned when the older man grabbed his limp length with the towel before sliding it away.

Vincent walked back into the bathroom where the towel was deposited off and reached in his dresser to grab a new pair of briefs. He threw the redhead a pair as well.

“Can ya throw me ma smokes as well?” Reno asked, working on getting his body off the top sheet of the bed before sliding into the comfortable black briefs.

As predicted, the older man collected the top sheet and replaced it with a pack of cigarettes and lighter. When Vincent returned to the bed he was also wearing a pair of sleep pants and used a hair tie to pull his hair out of his face.

“By the way,” Reno spoke with a cigarette between his lips as he tied his ponytail into a high bun so the hair would not try and strangle him in his sleep. “Did I say that was amazin’?” he smirked when he noticed Vincent’s small smile. “I’ll take that as a yes,” lidded summer eyes watched as Vincent once more crawled up his body. The older man leaned forward as if to kiss him and plucked the cigarette from the bruised lips last minute before pulling away.

Reno chuckled and watched the man settled beside him in the bed to finish his cigarette and pull an ashtray from the top drawer of the nightstand.

“Quick question’?”

“Do you ever shut up?” Vincent rolled his eyes but there was a smile stuck on his lips now.

Reno responded with a grin. “Do I look like someone tried ta strangle me?” he tilted his chin up and Vincent looked him over in curiosity. Then the older man’s expression fell. At the wide eyes and light blush that painted high cheekbones Reno laughed all the louder. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”

Fuck it, Reno thought as he put out his cigarette in the ashtray and put it on the ground beside him. Vincent had already closed his eyes and appeared to be sleeping. Reno himself needed the rest for sure, his eyes already closing as he thought about it all. But one thing stood out to him amongst everything else. The sex was great, of course, and it was a little on the rough side which always excited him. The passion that had awoken inside him was enough to feed his libido and imagination for quite a while. But the man dominated him like prey, not like a lover – not even for a night. And the way he treated him afterwards made it all the more painful at the moment.

Reno was sure this was not going to happen again as much as he wished it to.

With that thought in mind he got out of the bed and slipped back into his clothes. As soon as he was out of the room with a cigarette between his lips he regretted the action due to the first sound he heard:

“Holy shit!” he saw Yuffie standing there in a nightgown.


	13. Aftermath of Afterglow

Next day was full of rest, the three recruits Rufus had mentioned had arrived at the headquarters, and Reno immediately escaped them in favour of hiding out in his room. Tseng and Elena arrived together later that evening which gave the redhead the protection he needed from Yuffie – the girl was trying to find him and corner him but every time she came close to, she lost her nerve. When Rude arrived closer to midnight Reno had found a drinking buddy and remained close to the man and away from everyone else the entire time. Tseng knew something was up, the man always knew somehow, so Reno decided to avoid him as well.

But he could not avoid people for too long. His red neck brought up enough jokes and topics of conversation by the pilots and lower staff around the shipment area and annoyed glances by Rude including questions as to “whose husband was trying to kill him this time?”. Reno drank himself to sleep that night as well, shortly after Tseng and Elena left, knowing that next morning Rufus was due to arrive for an important conference meeting.

The meeting next day was quite awkward. Reno, usually being the lazy or loud-mouthed ass he was, always brought some type of interesting topic or did something stupid that calmed down the others. The fact that Cid was missing to smack him upside the head for it was also noted. But most obvious was the bright red blush on Yuffie’s cheeks every time she looked in his direction.

The meeting room was full with the main heads of the WRO, Rufus Shinra and his four trusted Turks, and a few oddballs from the WRO such as Vincent Valentine and the woman currently in charge of the shipment schedules.

Rude was the first to notice his surprisingly quiet partner but kept quiet about it, only sending the younger man worried glanced across the table from behind his dark shades. Reno himself kept fidgeting, sitting as hunched over as possible so his red ponytail appeared like the raised spikes on a cat’s back, and toothpick after red toothpick being destroyed between his lips. Reeve had banned smoking from the meeting rooms the second day after both Cid and Reno had filled the entire room to appear as if a sauna.

Rufus was now discussing options as to how to get Cid back and the fact that Vincent had already shut down more than half of his starting points for searches annoyed the blonde president to no end.

“How do you know all of this?” Rufus glared across the table at the gunman as Vincent told him that the pilot was not in Gongaga.

“‘Cuz he’s checked ‘imself,” Reno muttered quietly, his head lying on his crossed forearms on the table. Only Tseng noticed the slight twist of Vincent’s body at the redhead’s word and he wasn’t the only one to take in Yuffie’s blush returning to her cheeks.

Rufus glared at the redhead now.

“Since you seem to have already started on this yourself, maybe instead of me sending out dozens of my men searching for Mr. Highwind, I can just send one of my Turks with you.”

“That is not necessary.” Vincent shook his head.

Tseng observed the entire meeting room with reserved interest. There was something happening between Yuffie and Reno and somehow Vincent was involved. The previous day’s activities had given him that idea, but Vincent had been gone from the headquarters during those two days so he had no way of knowing the ex-Turk was also involved.

“Vincent works better on his own,” Reeve interjected when he noticed the blonde president glaring down the gunman at the other end of the table. “He has already gathered this information since we found out about Cid’s disappearance, and he has had two missions from me during that time including one with your Turk Reno.”

“Yea right, mission.” Yuffie coughed out, arms crossed and face dropped to hide her returning blush.

Very interesting.

Vincent stared at the small girl for a moment and after a second his red eyes widened slightly. They jumped to Reno noticing the redhead hide further in his arms before jumping back to the ninja to see her scowl and blush at the same time.

Very interesting indeed, Tseng mused.

“Are you saying my men will hinder him?” Rufus questioned, apparently not having noticed the small girl’s words or the exchange to follow, or just simply ignoring it, with the latter being more likely in his case.

“He’s saying your men will not keep up,” Vincent spoke, his words careful as if he was threading on eggshells but not on the topic that he was speaking of.

“With a walking corpse?”

“I did not hear them mentioning my lack of heartbeat when I had to save them countless times.”

Tseng cleared his throat when he noticed the unmistakable twitch of Rufus’s fingers that he needed a drink. “Maybe we should hold off this talk for the moment. Mr. Tuetsi, I heard you have a new idea for an energy source?”

Reeve nodded quickly. “Ah, yes! The other night we put up a smaller version of a windmill. It has worked on generating enough power for an apartment building. Only problem we have is the fact that it was hard to face the direction of the wind. We have to come up with a pivot-head for it, but otherwise it works magnificent.”

“Windmills?”

Reeve turned towards the blonde president. “We already have staff working on the statistics for size, number of blades and how many will be needed, but at the moment we estimate that if we fill an area as large as the field in the Junon Area where we are, we will have electricity for the entire eastern continent.”

Rufus actually raised a brow at this. “Sounds impressive.”

“But costly,” Reeve nodded slowly.

The rest of the meeting continued according to the scheduled agenda and Rufus did not try to bring up the topic of following Vincent even once. He instead said that he would send Rude with a small team to investigate different areas.

Once it was over Vincent was one of the first to leave the room.

“Vincent!” the call caught him completely off guard as he walked in the hall, as it was Yuffie calling him. She had _never_ called him that name. “Hey Vinny, can I—ermm…”

“It seems we need to talk,” he added in for her and she nodded as she jogged to his side.

“Look… I ain’t gonna say anything about it, but I just want you to know, as a friend… that… maybe… this isn’t the best thing for your health at the moment.”

“I’m sorry?”

Yuffie smiled softly as she looked at the ground while the two walked. “It’s okay. I saw him leaving your room the other morning… and it was kinda hard to sleep with the way you two were going at it,” she was glad that she had looked up for a beautiful red blush painted the gunman’s cheeks and was clearly visible even as he tried to hide in his mantle. “But you’re kinda… having enough problems as is.”

“I’m fine Yuffie… thank you… for your concern.” Vincent muttered softly. “I think.”

The girl laughed and nodded. “Just ermm… be careful, eh? I mean, he’s a Turk an’ all, and… I mean you were a Turk too just…”

“I know,” the gunman’s usually uncovered hand landed atop her head and ruffled her hair lightly. “Thank you, Yuffie.” He did not know what else to say. _I’m still a man, even if I am a monster. I know what I’m doing._ None of those sounded right in his head, especially when he considered how relieved he had felt that morning when he woke up and the redhead was not in his bed. “Do not worry about it, or me.”

A wide grin was on her lips and she bounced away a moment later. The gunman shook his head as he watched her jump away – she was always so happy. When he turned around he was startled to see the very same redhead they had been talking about staring at him as he leaned against the wall.

“She cool with it?” Vincent nodded at the question but the stern stare from the man spoke volumes to his words. “I don’t care who knows, I ain’t ashamed to admit who I am… but I am wonderin’ somethin’ else. What's up with you?”

“This coming from the one that left,” Vincent muttered as he walked by, brushing shoulders and turning his red eyes away at the last minute.

“I’m pretty sure ya were relieved I was gone.” He shot back, accusation clear in his voice and for a moment the gunman wondered if maybe Reno _had_ been in the room somehow to see his sigh of relief that morning. “Look, I’m a grown man, I know when I’ve been used and all that shit, ain’t gonna cry ‘bout it. It was too good for that shit and wouldn't mind a repeat performance. But... one thing I wanna know…”

The ex-Turk actually stopped at that.

“How long ya got?” red eyes turned to stare at the redhead and the glare was answer enough for him. He had been completely guessing, grasping at straws at the exchange and words he had heard and seen between the gunman and the others from their group. But that glare answered all his questions at once. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and pulled out a cigarette to light it. “Maybe Rufus is right, ya should agree ta back-up.”

“I do not need to babysit you kids.”

“Whatever,” Reno turned around, not letting the older man have the last word, and acting as unaffected as always. He waved over his head, shoulders hunched, and free hand in his pocket while smoke between the lightly curled fingers that rose over his head before disappearing to his face. He didn’t care if the gunman was there to see the small gesture or had already disappeared in some deep shadow. What he knew was that he had never regretted anything in his life and he never would. The sex was amazing and it being with a co-worker was a form of naughty that Reno always joked about that he enjoyed. “Fuck it,” he muttered under his breath as he entered the supply area where Roseline, the woman in charge of the supplies now, was taking care of the last few ships to leave. He waited until she was done signing some sheets and the people around her wandered off before approaching her with a slight swagger and charming grin.

That night she shared his bed.

The same night Vincent sat on the roof of a small building in Edge overlooking the bar where his ‘partner’ was having a drink. He contemplated more than once just leaving the area but his respect for the other man kept him from doing so. After a few more minutes of contemplation he jumped down onto the street and walked into the bar. His target was within sight and with clear determination he made his way to the Wutaian male sitting as proper as ever at a table in the corner. The ex-Turk slipped into the seat as if a shadow of the glass the Wutaian raised.

“You are not very good at stalking,” Vincent started the conversation he knew the other man would not.

“You are not very good at running away then,” Tseng replied with a slight lilt in his voice.

“What have you been told to do?”

“Follow you.” Tseng took a sip of his drink as he answered. He remembered working with the man six years ago. Veld, leader of the Turks at the time, had disappeared inside the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim only to come out with a much quieter version of the man in front of him now. The first time Vincent had spoken to him his voice was so torn and deep that Tseng had thought his vocal cords ripped apart.

The ex-Turk stared at him with those deep red eyes and Tseng immediately understood the silent question. “It seems the barmaid is against me tonight and has slipped something into my drink.” His deadpan voice and expression easily conveyed the words to be a lie, or for him to have a massive amount of control even when drugged. Vincent knew both options were fully possible but the fact that Tseng had spoken it gave him his answer. He left the bar as quietly as he had entered it and disappeared into the night shadows.

Tseng ordered three more drinks before getting up and leaving. When he was outside he took out his cell phone and made his way to the nearest Inn. “Rufus, sir. I’ve lost him.”

 _“I’m sure…”_ Rufus gritted out on the other end before hanging up.

Tseng closed the phone and looked in the direction he knew the older man to have gone. After a moment he reached into his inner breast pocket and took out a metal pack that held thin cigarettes. If Reno ever found out he smoked he would have a field day, especially with how much Tseng scolded him for his smoking habits. He lit a cigarette looking at the name printed near the filter and remembered that same name printed on the pack that fell from Veld’s open jacket when the man was shot on one of their missions. The same pack that Vincent himself had stolen a few cigarettes from in the past before disappearing back into the mansion and asleep in his coffin.

The next time Tseng heard anything of the Turks following Vincent it was Elena being scolded by the president for having lost him in Kalm. Rufus glared at him over the blonde woman’s head and all accusations were clear in those icy blue eyes. “Elena, you are dismissed,” Tseng commanded and watched his subordinate walk out the room with a wary glance at him before closing the door. The leader of the Turks turned towards Rufus and proceeded to the small cabinet on the side to fill the man a glass of whiskey. “Her skill level is nowhere near enough to follow a man such as Vincent Valentine.”

“Neither is yours, apparently.” Tseng nodded at the accusation and placed the glass on the man’s desk before seating himself on the other end. He brushed at his suit, straightened his tie and ran a hand over his hair to make sure it was slicked back before clasping his hands in his lap and crossing one leg over the other. “I want to know what that man is doing.”

“He will never work for Shinra again. Not after what has been done to him.”

“I don’t care about that! The calibre of all the Turks has fallen in the past generation and I want him to train the new men into something better. Even you are slipping, Tseng.”

The Wutaian nodded. “Age comes to us all.” The man was nearing the forties now and although Rufus accused him otherwise he was as sharp, if not better, than before. “But I assure you, the training is not so different from before. The only difference is where Vincent excelled as a marksman and sniper, the new Turks excel in all.”

Rufus snorted under his breath and took the drink to his lips. “So instead of training them to be perfect in one aspect, we are training them to be ‘good enough’ in all?”

“That appears to be the best method we have, yes.”

The president snorted again. “You refuse to follow him for me, Elena does not have the ability to do so. Rude is too busy with searching for MAYHEM’s hideout and Reno is…” disgust appeared on his features for a moment before he spat out the name “…Reno.”

“I assure you, Reno is quite capable at his job.”

“I’ve seen this, and I agree. That does not mean I like the thieving street rat.” Then an idea dawned on the man. “Reno can follow him, can’t he?” At Tseng’s silence Rufus smirked and took a swig from his drink. “Thank you, Tseng. You are dismissed.”


	14. Hound and Berserker

“Reno.”

“Rufus,” the redhead grinned as he walked into the office and plopped himself down on the chair across the blonde male. “What’s up, love?”

“Do _not_ talk to me like that,” disgust was on the younger man’s features as he turned his icy blue eyes away. “I have a special mission for you.”

“Figured, since ya called me in the office when ya usually do everythin’ possible to make sure we ain’t alone together.” The predatory smirk and the smell of sex that radiated off the confident redhead made Rufus nauseous.

“Yes, well… extreme measures. I need you to follow Vincent for me.”

Reno’s eyes narrowed to thin slits and he took out his pack of cigarettes. “Why? Tseng couldn’t do it, what makes ya think I can?”

“Tseng refused to do it.” This caught the redhead off guard. “And sadly, you are the only Turk other than him that has the skill to follow that man.”

“What makes ya think he won’t shoot me?”

“Oh please,” Rufus’s expression of disbelief and annoyance almost made the redhead laugh. Almost. “You would probably enjoy being shot by him. You practically wor—”

Reno sat up suddenly, the scrape of the chair drowning out the rest of Rufus’s words. “I can’t take on ‘nother mission. New shipments of supplies are ta be sent out early tomorrow mornin’ and ya’ve already assigned me ta help out till Cid returns.”

The president’s expression changed to one of mild interest and amusement. “If you do not take this mission, and succeed in bringing me the information I need, you will find your replacement work with Cid Highwind to be the last job you ever do.”

“Ya can’t kill me,” Reno scowled, pointing fingers with a cigarette between them at the blonde president. Both knew his words to be true as more than once the redhead had gotten on the young president’s nerves enough for orders to be sent out for his death. More than once has the redhead walked into his office without invitation the next day, a lazy grin and that swagger that signified he had been drinking or had gotten a really good lay in place. Sometimes both.

“Now what would be the point of that? I can, however, make sure that you will never find a respectable job again. I am sure there are some streets in Edge that are as bad as the slums of Midgar. Maybe you could find your old dealer and fix there once you are done here.” Reno’s eyes narrowed in contempt and his teeth latched onto the butt of his cigarette.

“Yer a fuckin’ asshole.”

“All that I ask of you is to obey my orders. I do not understand why I need to threaten you to do so.” The president’s voice returned to its cold and calculating tone. “You should take it as a compliment that I am sending you on such an important job.”

The tall Turk turned to leave the office. “Oh, and Reno. He left the Junon area two hours ago. Some scouts said they saw him heading towards Kalm.” Reno did not do something as childish as slam the door on his way out, instead he just exhibited his usual habit of ashing his cigarette on the floor before stepping out quietly.

Five days later Vincent turned to look over his shoulder when he thought he felt someone following him. His eyes narrowed into the small crowd gathered on the streets of Rocket Town. On his quick travel to the area he had seen only two suspicious characters. One of them was an obvious Turk-in-training, in his black suit and white tie, that passed him as if just another citizen. The other was much earlier on his adventure and in the form of a loud and obnoxious redhead that had burst into his room at the Inn in Kalm claiming to have gotten lost.

It had started off as annoying but had turned into a fun night for the both of them. Vincent had left hours before daybreak with a passed out Turk still in his bed. He would blame it on alcohol, as he was sure the redhead was doing as well. It was supposed to be a one-night thing.

But even as he thought of the redhead he felt the urges coiling inside him and making his covered hand fist tightly under his cape. The ex-Turk looked over his shoulder again before disappearing into an alleyway. A few moments later passed a young girl that Vincent easily recognized as Yuffie and he had to wonder what the ninja was doing there. She had been left in Wutai to deal with the closing and traditional ceremonies of the negotiations. Tseng had returned for the fact that he was banned from such traditions due to past events and had mentioned that they usually lasted weeks.

Then Vincent realized that maybe he had just mistaken some wanderer for the young girl. His concentration was slipping. He turned into the alley and slipped through the window into the Inn room he had rented earlier that day.

Although it was originally Cid’s hometown the small place was now under Rebel control and the ex-Turk had to admit that they knew what they were doing. Self-production for the town had doubled since his last visit here with the blonde pilot and the citizens seemed perfectly content with not being involved in any specific movements. The current mayor of the town was a young woman that proudly claimed her belief in MAYHEM while at the same time working on stabilizing production for the townsfolk.

If it were not for the fact that the group had forcibly taken one of his closest friends, if not the closest, then Vincent would have thought them to be doing a good job in realigning the world after so many mishaps in the past decade alone.

The ex-Turk closed his window as he thought this and removed his mantle and cape. Before they had even hit the ground he sat on the edge of the bed and hunched over. His covered hand, though no gauntlet today, started working on undoing the buckles of his shirt quickly while the other supported his upper body from falling over completely. His breathing had gotten heavier. As soon as his shirt was open he fell back onto the bed, letting the black material open even more and closing his eyes as he gasped for breath. It was getting even worse than Shelke had predicted. She had warned him of what may happen to his body in this process as well as the side effects of the slightly modified injections he was taking. These two combined had him raised once more, elbows propped on spread knees and head dangling between his legs as he started coughing out blood. He did not bother to collect his hair and watched as it was spattered with red.

It felt like hours later when he stopped coughing but the gunman was too tired to move from his current position and instead forced his trembling arms to support his body as he dry heaved above the blood-soaked floor. Then he felt the painful twitch in his left arm and groaned out loud when he grabbed at it with his right. His arm was shaking so bad that even hunching over it could not hide the tremors.

He coughed again, this time choking on the blood that had gone up his throat and forcing him to gag and his stomach to turn in reflex. He was lucky all he had to consume that day was a glass of gin, but the burning sting tore his throat apart and he knew his voice would be even deeper and rougher than before.

Reno watched from the small camera he had installed into the man’s room when Vincent was out that day. His eyes were unreadable as he watched the powerful man hunched and shaking, appearing as broken as the redhead had when he had gone through withdraw earlier in his life. When the gunman finally fell back into bed and closed his eyes Reno counted it to be two hours and forty-three minutes since he had returned to the room.

He reached for a cigarette at his side and noticed his pack was almost empty then noticed the ashtray on the desk stuffed to the brink with cigarette butts. The bottle of scotch beside it was also empty with barely a sip left in the glass that was probably completely diluted by the ice. He turned back to the screen as he lit the cigarette.

Vincent was one of the hardest targets Reno had ever had to follow. He had an advantage that he knew the man and even more so that he had slept with him. On their last night together in Kalm he had been able to plant a tracker on the male and though Vincent had gone to Bone Village and North Corel before arriving at Rocket Town, the redhead had caught up with him. The man had the most uncanny luck when it came to transportation, whether it be a boat, plane, train, or even a cart of supplies. He had gotten to all three places within a record time that Reno thought would be hard to beat even with his bird. Having to follow him around without the luxury of the helicopter was even worse.

Having watched that scene for the past three hours and now sitting to watch the man as he slept was the worst experience of this entire mission so far. Just as he was about to turn in for the night he noticed something strange about the man sleeping. He wondered for a moment why he had not seen it the first night they had slept together, or the time Vincent had slept in the helicopter, but it was impossible to miss now even through the quality of the mini camera.

The man’s body was disappearing!

Not completely, but the entire left arm that was usually gloved was gone from sight, fading away into nothing. The weight of it was still visible on the sheet underneath but the arm itself was invisible. The change slowly crawled up the man’s shoulder. That was when Reno also noticed the man’s face was completely relaxed, a peaceful expression that he had not witnessed even when he had watched the man sleep before. The rest of his appendages slowly became translucent, but the left arm was the only one completely missing. The blood that the man had not wiped from his lips and hair slowly disappeared as well, but not in the same manner. Reno easily recognized the faint green glow of healing that slipped around the man’s lips before echoing dully in his throat and chest.

And then an obsidian claw settled into the sheets, the dark skin appearing completely black in the darkness of the room and quality of Reno’s camera. But within moments Reno recognized the muscled black appendage for what it truly was and the cigarette that had been dangling from his lips since the changes had started finally fell to the wooden floor.

“Holy shit!” he reached for his PHS but even as he heard the dial tone ringing in his head he had no idea what to tell his boss on the information he had just uncovered. _Hey boss, it appears that my partner is still housing that guy that MAYHEM seems to think they own… what should I do? Kill him now, or later?_ The answer was obvious and as soon as Rufus’s annoyed tone sounded the redhead blinked into awareness. “Nevermind,” he spoke and closed the phone, eyes never tearing away from the scene as he watched the sheets being torn apart under that claw. Vincent had to have known about this somehow… he had to know!

_And Reno had fallen asleep with the berserker in the same bed!!_


	15. Too Close for Comfort

Tseng looked up from the book he was reading and calmly placed the bookmark on his page before closing the heavy volume. “Thank you for meeting up with me,” he commented lowly and moved to rise. A stopping hand had him remaining in his seat and his head bowing in thanks as the older male sat in front of him.

“What is this about?” Vincent asked quietly and looked around the small café where they were seated. He had received a message from the Turk leader that morning with a request to meet and talk in a small pit stop between Rocket Town and Nibelheim.

“As I am sure you are quite aware, Rufus has been trying to get you back under Shinra control. Reno should be following you now—”

“I left him in Kalm,” Vincent interrupted lightly with a raised hand.

Tseng noted the action and a small knowing smile appeared on his lips. “In agonizing pain, no doubt.” The older male glared at him over the red mantle but Tseng’s smile only widened. “That man drinks like a fish out of water,” the Turk leader spoke to explain his words but both men knew, from the small smile on his lips, that Tseng knew a lot more than he was saying and he found the information entertaining.

“Should I then believe that our meeting here is to get him back on my trail?”

“Doubtfully. But do beware of him, he is a lot more capable than he seems.” Vincent nodded at the warning but remained unmoving otherwise, doubting that the meeting was about the annoying redhead that had shared his bed twice now and more times in his dreams.

The silence was as much of a prompt as Tseng was going to get so he nodded and raised a hand to the waitress for his bill. “Rufus is looking to get into a more secure hold in the WRO.”

“Should you be telling me your boss’s plans? If I remember correctly Turks are meant to protect Shinra, not disclose their information openly to non-allies.”

“First of all,” he collected the small strip of paper with his purchase without looking at the woman. “I am protecting him first and foremost. I am telling you this information because I want your help on the matter. I need you to convince Reeve that having Rufus and the Turks as head of their military departments would aid him a lot more than having them just as a side dish.” He rose after leaving the correct change and watched the older man fall into step beside him as they walked down the small street to the gas station of the pit stop. “Secondly… I could have sworn we were allies.”

Vincent looked the man over and nodded lightly before they both moved off the road and near the alley between the five-room Inn and a closed Materia shop.

Reno watched from the distance as the two men stopped just in the mouth of the alleyway. Vincent unbuckled his mantle and let the red material hang open on his shoulders and exposing his throat to the Turk leader. He was looking around, seeming perfectly comfortable at bearing his throat at Tseng while his boss reached inside his jacket pocket for something, his own face turned down at the action.

Tseng was shorter than Reno by half a head but the redhead had never noticed due to the mere presence and power that rolled off the Wutaian male when he was around. Seeing Vincent comfortably lift a hand to rest against the Inn wall while standing unnaturally close to the male startled Reno for that arm was at Tseng’s eyelevel when the Turk leader’s head was dropped. He could not hear what they were saying and though Vincent had removed his mantle the older man had a strange way of speaking so Reno could not read his lips and Tseng was turned mostly away from him.

The Turk leader took out a slim silver pack from his jacket and opened it. It took Reno a moment to accept that the pack held cigarettes. Vincent slipped one out as if he had done it every day, his eyes never wandering from the top of the other man’s head as he said something. Tseng easily slid one between his own lips and after replacing the pack in his inner pocket he took out a lighter and lit the cigarette.

Vincent finished speaking, placed the thin cancer stick between his own lips and ducked his head dangerously close to the other male while Tseng lit his cigarette. The Turk leader said something, replaced the lighter in his pocket, and a smile curved on his lips at the disbelief that crossed Vincent’s features.

 _Didn’t know they were that fuckin’ close_ , Reno thought with scorn and it took him a moment to realize that the anger raging in his veins was due to jealousy. Then he was even more surprised to see Tseng raise the hand with the cigarette to the other man’s face and tugged the loosened mantle to straighten it out. He had seen the Turk leader’s obsession have everything perfect and clean. The first time he had met the man Tseng had not even listened to his introduction while he straightened up the redhead’s uniform. Reno knew he had a habit of needing to fix things but he had thought that it had died towards other people years ago. The last time he had even heard of Tseng’s need to clean up other people was around six or so years ago when Veld was leader of the Turks. He and Tseng had returned from some mission and Veld had laughed about how Tseng was unable to keep his hands off of their “civilian help” to clean him up.

Reno’s eyes narrowed in anger as he watched Vincent act as if the touch happened every day. Especially when he had appeared so wary of touching anybody when they had first met with the whole “Sephiroth chase around the planet”.

The conversation ended shortly after both cigarettes died. Vincent had flicked his off away into the distance while Tseng had put his in a portable ashtray that Reno sometimes used when the two were on missions alone. The ex-Turk turned after a final word and disappeared into the alley while doing up his mantle. Tseng remained for a moment and turned around, sharp eyes scanning the area and focusing on where Reno had been hiding.

The redhead knew better than to try and escape his boss’s gaze so as soon as he had seen the end of the conversation coming he had moved off to a different area. He seemed to have gained some of Vincent’s luck because not even a moment later a cart full of supplies traveling to Rocket Town passed him. He jumped in the back and waiting for it to stop again. He knew Vincent was going back to Rocket Town for another reason that angered him greatly. The man had left behind Death Penalty in the Inn room, not taking any visible weapon when meeting with the Turk leader.

When Reno got back into Rocket Town he slipped out of the cart and immediately made his way to the second Inn in the city where he was staying. He had just closed the door to his room when he was cornered by a tall, menacing shadow.

“How do you keep up with me?” Vincent’s voice was the only thing that kept the redhead from attacking as the older male framed him against the door. “How did you know I was in Rocket Town when you just arrived?”

At least the man did not know that Reno had followed him to his meeting with Tseng.

“Well… ya see I have this Mako thingy that lets me know where anybody is at any point in time in the world!” the large grin on his lips only made Vincent’s eyes narrow even more.

“You put a tracker on me, correct?”

“Yea, pretty much,” Reno raised a hand to scratch at his chest. As soon as the fingers connected though Vincent’s gloved hand grabbed him around the wrist and slammed that hand up against the door behind the redhead.

“Where?” Vincent growled out low, his frame seeming to have elongated for he appeared to be hunched over the redhead in anger, leaning closer with red eyes searching the dancing blue, green, and grey mix in front of him.

“Don’t know which on stuck? But I doubt the one ya drank is still in yer system.”

“The one I drank?”

Reno nodded with a questioning expression. Why was Vincent so surprised that he had drunk a tracker? “It was in that tequila shit we drank in Kalm.”

“You can drink a tracker?” the anger was replaced by curiosity. “Would not the alcohol destroy it?”

“There’s ways to avoid that… dan' worry love, all safe and dandy. Been tested and all that shi—”

His words were cut off as an explosion sounded from the bottom of the building. Both men were startled but the running and stomping feet up the stairs had them move into action.

Vincent had returned from his meeting with Tseng only to see Reno crossing the street to the Inn and had never gone back to his room to collect Death Penalty. He did not have that as a weapon but as the first man crashed through the window his gauntlet grabbed his face and flung him right back out into the second man.

Reno had drawn his EMR and the first man that ran through the door was contained in a blue pyramid while the second was electrocuted so strongly that he fell twitching to the floor. The next few were attacked by a lightning bolt that made Vincent’s eyes narrow in anger. It seemed the Turks still used Materia.

Vincent turned back to the window just as a man with a rifle fired at him. He moved out of the way of the shot, his body moving at incredible speeds as he jumped towards him. All that was seen from the others was a black and red blur that flew out the window, cutting the rope that held the current man in front of the window. The blur landed in front of the building where a few of the Rebel soldiers were waiting for him.

He killed two with a swipe of his gauntlet and ducked under the shot of a third before upper cutting him into the air. Somebody shot him with something though for the sting in his shoulder was not the familiar pain of a bullet. He turned and saw fire raging into the Inn before the redhead dove out the window, his body twisting in mid air to land on his feet. He rolled right into two men to take the brunt of the fall and his EMR shot out to decapitate them both before he was even standing.

But Vincent could not move. The movements he was seeing were enough to disorient him and he had to take a few steps to regain his balance while standing.

“Fuck, no! Vince, common, get up and goin’!” Reno screamed at him before someone hit the older man in his stomach and he doubled over. That was when he noticed the man standing right in front of him and confusion appeared on his features before everything went black.

Reno fought a bit more after watching Vincent fall to the ground but there were too many and the sting in his thigh was numbing his entire left leg. He realized it was a tranquilizer that the Mako in his system was trying to fight off, but on his next attack his leg failed him and it was not where it should have been. He lost balance, fell over and watched the rock looming closer before thinking: _I’m seriously gonna be knocked out by a rock… how the fuck fair is that?_ All that followed for both men was darkness.

When Reno started regaining his consciousness he was in the back of a truck. A jar had him bouncing and his vision fading again with only the image of Vincent bound and gagged before him settling into his mind. At least they were taking them alive.

Another vision and he was carried down a long hall with flickering lights, or maybe the flickering was due to his own vision being messed up. The next time he awoke was when he felt the pain of someone twisting his arm and dislocating his shoulder before dragging him through a thick metal door. Then he passed out again when he was thrown in and his head hit the concrete floor under him.

Even as he passed out he recognized the sound of another body falling beside him and he imagined the blur of red and black landing on the concrete beside him. At least Vincent was with him, now they can bitch at each other all they want in captivity. Reno gave up on that last thought and let the comfortable darkness slip back into his mind to cover all his thoughts in warmth.


	16. Escape and Capture

Cid thrashed elbows, knees, feet, and head as he was manhandled in the back of a truck. He heard a few groans of pain and a satisfying crunch that brought a smile to his gagged lips. After a moment he was roughly shoved away from the men that held him and got the unmistakable feeling of flying for a few moments before the even more unmistakable feeling of falling flat on his ass out of a moving vehicle.

He passed out at the action but the stubborn mule inside him had him waking within the hour of being thrown out of the vehicle. His wrists and ankles were still bound, his eyes were covered though the cloth was loose now from his roll on the ground, and the gag between his lips was finally loose enough for his tongue to shove it out and his stubbled chin to move it down to his neck.

It took him another hour or so to shuffle across the deserted road to large boulder, silently thanking any deity he could think of that he was not thrown into that, and used it to make himself sit up. He was not as smart as Reeve or as flexible as Yuffie so it took him about another hour of brute strength and absolutely no patience to rip the bonds off from around his wrists. Once they were off the rest of the bonds disappeared as well and he was sitting against the rock, taking deep breaths.

He would be fucked if he let anybody see Cid Highwind taking a breather from removing some stupid rope and cloth binds. While he was resting he looked around to try and figure out where he was. Since he was manhandled off of the _Valentine_ he had been brought to some shit hole in the middle of nowhere, drugged to stay unconscious almost daily, and asked questions that made absolutely no sense about anything. After all, who the fuck cared if Yuffie and Shelke were more than friends? If Rufus had a thing for gags and Tseng satisfied that need? The thoughts just gave him shivers!

The only thing that made sense was the idle talk he had heard when they thought him passed out. The new WEAPON sounded surprisingly like Chaos and after a few more days that was confirmed to be the case by the man that appeared to have been leading the whole operation. He had to tell Vincent about this!

The problem arose due to the rest of the information he had heard. He was sure half of it was lies which made him think that they were saying it all just so he would relay it all back to Reeve and they would take action. But what was true and what was not? He doubted they were trying to rebuild Midgar, after all Reeve and the WRO had failed and only one man had more money than them, but Rufus was already working with them. But what of slaves? He had heard talk of brothels, baby farms, slave markets, such visions that would destroy the world even more so than try to fix anything.

Cid finally oriented himself and after walking for two days, glad that monsters and mutations were a lot less now since he had no weapon on him, he came to a small pit stop – now having turned into a full grand city in swing – at the waters northwest of Cosmo Canyon. He called Vincent first, surprised to see that his cell phone was not only not being answered, but also not ringing in the first place. He then called Reeve and he was immediately arranged to stay at the local Inn. A day later Yuffie, coming from Wutai with good news and covered in the traditional markings of celebration from Wutai, dropped by, and hugged the man close to death. Two days later and they were in the Junon Area.

The first thing that Cid did when they were flying over the field was swear his mouth off and threaten to kill Reeve for obviously pulling apart some of his planes! A full day's rest later and that was exactly what Cid was doing as he watched three of the wind mills put up be taken down to be fixed and the ones lying in waiting to have more parts added to them.

“I have some bad news,” Shelke came out onto the airstrip and where Cid and Reeve were looking over some new designs for the windmills. Cid had needed to get immediately back into some type of work and finding Roseline and some new Turk-in-training to work the shipment schedule really helped him out. He was helping with new designs for the windmills and thinking of different ways to construct them, constantly insulting the younger engineers for having “too much imagination”.

“No more plane parts?”

Shelke shook her head and looked to Yuffie by her side. The ninja growled low and turned her eyes away. Cid scowled and blushed – not blushed but reddened in anger! – due to the idiotic thoughts his captors had made him think. It was obviously not true; Yuffie had the biggest crush _ever_ on Vincent!

“I was really caught off guard when Vincent didn’t call at his usual time and became worried.” While Vincent went off and disappeared all the time on them since he and Shelke had become unofficial members of the WRO, the silent man had made it his duty to keep in contact with the girl. Shelke got constantly worried about him and they had made it somewhat of a ritual to keep in contact at least once a week if they could not see each other and when they could to turn that talk into a meeting somewhere quiet. They usually ended up at Shalua’s grave or in close view of the old Midgar tower where Shelke had taken over Lucrecia’s image to return the proto-materia to Vincent.

“And?”

“I did a dive into the connection to his phone, it allows me to see where he is and what he is doing. The connection was really hard to establish – that means he is in an area where he cannot make phone calls unless he can do the same dive as me or some other type of connection.”

“Maybe he’s visiting his dead girlfriend again,” Cid mumbled and though it sounded offensive they all knew that it was due to Cid’s grumbling and comments that Vincent had finally been able to get over the woman that had tortured him even in her afterlife.

“No. He is somewhere in Midgar.”

“Midgar doesn’t have any zones with no connection,” Reeve observed quietly. “We had checked it all over when we were trying to work on rebuilding everything there.”

“Exactly.”

“And Reno is missing too. I overheard Tseng and Rufus speaking that the idiot’s PHS is destroyed and he hasn’t reported in for over a week now.” Yuffie voiced in with a small scowl on her features.

“What does he have to do with Vincent not calling in?”

Yuffie scowled again. She had only told Shelke about what she knew of the two men and after scratching the idea that they had eloped to live ‘happily ever after’ or had gone into some motel and were too busy going at it like bunnies not to notice a week pass, their thoughts turned for the worst.

“You’ve seen how Rufus wants to control Vincent, get him back into the Turks,” Shelke waited for the nod from Reeve and curious glance from Cid. “Well, he had started sending others to follow Vincent. Apparently only Tseng and Reno are of a high enough calibre to follow him and Tseng had refused to do so, for some personal reason. So Reno was sent to follow Vincent. Both of them are not calling in so we got a little worried.”

“Think they grabbed ‘em too?” Cid grumbled and lit a cigarette, ignoring the glare from Reeve at the action.

“Probably.”

“That kid pro’bly got Vince in trouble.” Cid grumbled.

Reeve smiled at the man. “That _kid_ is almost thirty. He’s the same age as Rufus, would you call him a kid?”

“I’d call him a damn baby!”

Forced smiles appeared on all their faces and after a moment Reeve sighed. “I’ll speak to Rufus, see if they have anything for us on the matter, if we should be worried.”

“Thank you, Reeve,” Shelke bowed her head slightly and turned to leave the building.

“Hey, girls!” Cid scowled, looking at how close the two of them were standing. “I know we got alotta work recently, but ya… erm… try ta find some nice boys er somethin’.”

Yuffie was the first to laugh and true mirth spread on her features. “What’s up old man? Want grand kids?”

“Shut up, off with the two of ya!” he waved his hands and turned back to the blue prints before him while the two girls walked away, giggling to something secretly behind his back.

“You know,” Reeve sighed as he looked at the pilot. He had been the only one Cid had told the bullshit he had been asked and told about the two girls. He was too embarrassed to tell anybody else so he had not even mentioned the Tseng/Rufus crap, though he did want to see Vincent’s expression if he told him. “They are not together in any sexual manner. And even if they were,” he raised a hand when he noticed Cid wanted to speak, “which I doubt they are, why are you so against it? Is it the ‘gay’ part?”

“Not the damn ‘gay’ part! The fact that those two are like… practically my own girls! Don’t you _dare_ tell them!” he pointed a threatening finger at the older man and Reeve backed off slightly with a smile on his lips.

At that exact time Reno was bent double around the fist buried in his stomach. When the fist drew back he fell to the floor, finally released by the two men that held him from behind.

“We’ll try again tomorrow then,” a malicious blonde spoke from the background and disappeared through a thick metal door that clanged closed behind him. The redhead was picked up and a moment later he was thrown through another thick door.

This time he was glad for it was not the cold concrete floor or rough brick walls that had stopped his fall, but hard, muscled body that padded him down and surrounded him in warmth before he dozed off into darkness.

Vincent glanced at the redhead that passed out in his lap and sighed softly. Since they had been taken nine days ago they had only been kept in the small underground room and Reno had been taken out around five-six times a day to get beaten before being thrown back into the cell. Not once had the captors even looked at Vincent let alone take him.

When Reno came to a few hours later he groaned and stretched from his curled position against the wall before moving to sit against it. He reached into his pocket, grabbed his pack of cigarettes, and placed one between his lips. He groaned out after he lit it when he shifted to put his matches away.

“What do they want?” Vincent asked him from the opposite side of the room, sitting as well and leaning against the wall. His mantle and cape were thrown to the side, gauntlet and metal coverings taken away, and the buckles of his shirt were undone. The spatters of blood on the floor near his effects and the dry smudge under his lips were enough of a sign as to what had happened to Vincent while the redhead was out.

“Tche,” Reno clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and spat out a clump of blood to the side. “Fuckin’ wanna know shit ‘bout Rufus.”

“Like what?”

“How come he’s so damn rich,” Reno giggled lightly at the question. “How come he still’s got so much support and respect when he practically destroyed the planet,” at this one he shrugged and placed the cigarette to his lips to take a drag. “Bullshit questions with bullshit answers.” He giggled then: “what colour his undies are!”

“So you answer them?” Vincent ignored the last comment.

“Hurts less,” Reno smirked and gave him a look that said otherwise. After looking the redhead over Vincent shook his head. Reno would never give up his charge so he was getting beaten quite badly for it, but the redhead was taking it all in stride with a wide grin on his lips that probably infuriated his captors more than the lack of answers.

Vincent looked down at the small PHS with his Cerberus charm and flicked it open. The phone was dead now with no battery life left. After Shelke doing her dive, which Vincent easily enough recognized as his screen had flickered with her life, he had handed over the device to the genius redhead before him. Reno had almost gotten to establish contact before the stupid battery died. He had tried charging it earlier that morning in a way that Vincent thought was insane, but apparently would have been successful. He got the crap beaten out of him for it and got his lighter taken away, his body searched for more of the menacing tech gadgets he carried, and a pack of matches to keep his cigarettes company.

“What now?” Vincent asked with a sigh.

“Fuck till the end of the world?” Reno smirked. Since they had been caught the redhead had been trying to get Vincent to have sex with him for some reason. ‘Don’t wanna die a virgin!’ was not really that believable. But it was still a form of entertainment for them both, just arguing and bantering back and forth so when Vincent rolled his eyes Reno smirked. Next Vincent was supposed to say something about Reno having the hormones of a teenager where Reno responded with that Vincent was probably already senile, being so damn old as he was.

But this time nothing followed Reno’s smirk and the two fell into silence.

The silence was broken about an hour after Reno put out his cigarette by Vincent. The older man was trying to hold a cough in. He glared at Reno and turned away to cough out some of the blood gathered in his lungs. Reno had first hand witnessed the display not long after their capture and Vincent had not spoken to him for the entire day. When Reno finally showed how bad the beatings were Vincent started talking to him more. The ex-Turk had a lot more pride than one would have thought and it was breaking him down.

He finally gave up and lifted both knees, spread, arms resting on them and head hanging as he spat out blood between his legs and started coughing even more. Reno learned that ignoring the show was the best way to get on his good side but this seemed even worse than before. He was by his side in seconds, pulling his hair back. Vincent smacked his hands away, glared at him, but their mutual silence made the older man finally break and Reno pulled his hair back just as another cough made him gag and dry heave.

“Whoops! Back to business!” a cocky voice spoke as the door slammed open and a shotgun was aimed at both men. “Oh… what do I see here? Is your friend sick?” the blonde that was keeping them captured and entertained smirked down the length of the shotgun. Both Reno and Vincent glared at the man and the soldiers lined behind him.

They had tried breaking out once already and that had caused Vincent’s coughing fits to come on even more than before. One of the soldiers had broken a rib that Vincent already felt had started healing wrong.

“Get up.”

“Thought ya said our next meetin’s tomorrow?” Reno grinned in question but backed away from Vincent, not wanting to make the older man look even weaker than he already appeared.

“Changed my mind,” the blonde brushed back his hair. “Both of you, up. Boss wants to see you both.”

The two looked at each other and slowly Vincent rose, his chest shaken by another coughing fit. But he took it in such a way that Reno started truly admiring the legend amongst the Turks. He raised his head, straightened his shoulders, and turned his back to the man to collect his effects. Apparently the blonde had also heard of Vincent Valentine and had enough respect for the man to allow him to dress.

He moved into the room right behind Reno and the shotgun was lodged between his shoulder blades. “Walk in front of me,” he spoke to Vincent as the man fastened the last clip of his mantle. “You make one move I don’t like, and his blood is on your hands,” he nudged Reno forward with the shotgun as he said that.

“What makes you think I care?” the ex-Turk’s voice was so cold that even Reno’s head snapped to the side to look at him in mixed surprise and alarm. As a response the blonde behind Reno grinned widely and his finger tightened on the trigger.

“Then I may as well shoot him now, correct?”

“I believe you need him more than you need me, but go ahead. He may finally shut up.”

“Maybe I was just saving the best for last,” he leaned suspiciously close to Reno, green eyes never turning away from Vincent as one hand grabbed Reno by the upper arm and pulled him back harder into the shotgun still between his shoulder blades. “Such a tasty morsel, after all,” the gun went to the back of Reno’s head and the blonde was tall enough to lean in and sniff the red hair before his tongue ran a short length on his gun, “must be saved to last for a little longer.” Piercing green eyes filled with lust and menace as his hand travelled to Reno’s hair and grabbed a fist full. He yanked the hair back, twisting Reno’s head with the motion so it rested on his shoulder and making the redhead lean uncomfortably back into his body. The shotgun had fallen from his head and shoulder blades and seemed to hang lifelessly by his side.

Vincent’s eyes darted to Reno’s but just as they met the green pair again the blonde smirked and squeezed the trigger. Reno howled in pain after the shot sounded as some of the pellets pierced his foot and one shattered his ankle. Vincent flinched at the shot and watched as Reno’s body sagged against the blonde behind him, leaning into him to relieve the weight on his foot while at the same time trying to support his head so his hair was not yanked on too much.

“Now… walk ahead of me…” the shotgun was lifted easily and rested on Reno’s shoulder right in front of the blonde’s face. Once Vincent stepped in front of him and faced the door he heard the redhead moan in pain. He turned to look over his shoulder and noticed that the blonde was using the red ponytail to pull Reno unbalanced against his body while the shotgun used his shoulder as a stand to aim at Vincent. He morbidly remembered pulling that red ponytail the exact same way to keep Reno unbalanced as he rutted behind him to gain them both a new high of pleasure.

As a warning the shotgun dipped down, hand stretching and Vincent saw that the aim would take out Reno’s knees. The move was too fast as well so he took the warning and turned to face the soldiers at the door. Once they started walking he followed them, head dipped to hide his face in his mantle.


	17. JUDGEMENT

Reno and Vincent entered into a small room with tiny barred windows near the top of one wall. The ex-Turk was escorted to the corner of the wall with the windows and motioned to sit in the wooden chair there. He refused, watching instead as Reno, still bleeding and groaning with every step, was walked against the wall right under one small window.

The redhead was yanked up by his upper arms and it took Vincent a moment to realize that he was being locked into the wall. Both arms were behind his back, elbows lifted above the shoulders and clipped with barely five centimetres between them. Vincent knew the uncomfortable position would leave the redhead breathless and aching, especially after he had to reset his shoulder on their first day at the prison.

While the redhead was strung up, allowed to rest his wounded foot against the wall in some form of compassion, the ex-Turk’s red eyes scanned the entire room and memorized everything in it. There were four soldiers with them, one on either side of Reno, one by the door, and one right by the berserker to keep an eye on him.

“Fuck ya!” Reno scowled when he watched the blonde drag a second wooden chair right in front of him.

“No, thank you,” the blonde smirked and sat down. He brushed at his pristine white suit, reminding both captors of Rufus in the colours and Tseng in the meticulous cleaning as he straightened his jacket, tie, slicked his hair back, and intertwined fingers in his lap after crossing his legs – the exact same way Tseng did it. “Now we just wait for my employer.”

“Employer?” Reno scoffed and used his wounded foot, pressing the heel hard against the wall and ignoring the burning pain, to lift his body slightly more and hunch over so his arms would have some relaxation. He was lucky he was so tall though as the restraints would obviously cause even more pain in a shorter person. “So he ain’t really yer boss?”

“Employer, boss, head-honcho, who gives a fuck?” the blonde waved his hand around as if shooing away a fly and reached inside his breast pocket to take out a pack of cigarettes. “You have my matches?” he motioned to one of the soldiers at the redhead’s side. Reno groaned in pain when a fist landed in his already bruised side right before those rough hands searched his pockets.

His pack of cigarettes was thrown over the man’s shoulder and matches handed to the blonde sitting before Reno.

As he lit a cigarette he waved the match out and flicked it back at the redhead. In great contemplation he looked over the small pack of matches, inspected it from all sides, then threw it over his shoulder in the background.

“So ya don’t actually work for that stupid fuck Arm-dude?” Reno growled.

“Arma Regal?” the blonde smirked and leaned forward, the smoke from his cigarette rising right into the redhead’s face. “No, I don’t work for him, per se. We work together.”

“When you said employer earlier and now together... it seems that you are only in this for a short time to get paid. Are you a mercenary of some sort?” Vincent voiced from the corner and drew the blonde’s attention to him.

“That is correct. Though not a mercenary, per se. More of an… entrepreneur of the killing business.”

“From what I have observed you have some military training, though not Shinra standards.”

“Correct!” the blonde slapped his hands together suddenly as he straightened and a grin appeared on his lips. “But then again, how many secret projects has Shinra had?”

“Fuck ya!” Reno growled and rolled his eyes, trying to hide how much pain he was in and the fact that the blood loss was slowly getting to him. The mako in his system, both from his past as a junkie and the standard dosages from Shinra, had slowed the bleeding greatly, but he was still in quite a bit of pain.

Vincent glanced at the distance between the bars above Reno when the blonde’s attention went back to Reno. It was about thirty centimetres and just over that in height from concrete wall. The view out was a murky and dusty grey and almost immediately Vincent confirmed his earlier suspicion as to their location.

“So are we waiting fer that Arm-dude?”

“Arma Regal,” the blonde corrected again with a smirk, not seeming to mind the pronunciation of it. “Yes.”

Vincent glanced at Reno, catching his eyes when the redhead went to scratch his cheek with his shoulder, and his eyes darted to the blonde in a quick action with a subtle tilt of his chin and a raised eyebrow. The redhead scowled but got the message. Vincent had some type of plan. He turned back to the blonde and groaned as he looked down at him. “Fuck ya!”

“What is it this time?” the blonde smirked.

“At least give me a damn drag from yer smoke, ass-shit!” the smirk only widened as the blonde stood up. While standing he was a full head and a half shorter than the hung redhead. His fingers were surprisingly steady though as he brought his own cigarette to the redhead’s dry lips.

Reno took it in, closing his eyes as the smoke passed through his system and making a show of exhaling it with a small moan. When his summer eyes opened he saw a spark of amusement in the blonde’s eyes mixed with lust, and that menacing glint that all killers had when looking at their prey. One corner of his mouth twitched up and his head dropped to take the cigarette again, showing that he had distracted his captor enough for him to never move his hand.

The blonde’s smirk widened even more, eyes cleared up, and his fingers left the cigarette between the redhead’s lips.

In that small exchange Vincent’s eyes had wandered over the redhead, understood completely what the blonde was captivated by, then focused on the restraints that held him up.

“You heal quite fast,” the blonde sat back in his chair and took out another cigarette to replace the one he had given Reno. While he lit it with his lighter he looked over the man’s wounded foot and noticed it leaning flat against the wall and the bleeding having stopped.

The bindings were two simple bands of irons under the elbows and around the wrists that were welded tight to a metal plaque that was bolted into the wall. Vincent’s eyes darted around the room at the soldiers again, the conversation sounding somewhere in the back of his mind. The locks on the shackles were as wide as the material itself. Wait… Reno was healed? How?

“Shit, man! From what I’ve seen from ya, ye should know how mako works! Ya haven’t given us any food fer eight fuckin’ days, I haven’t eaten for ‘bout another two before that. Mako in ma system is actin’ up to try and compensate fer the lack of nutrition.” Reno explained, cigarette bobbing between his lips as he spoke and ash falling mindlessly down to his black trousers and one knee, the healing foot having slid up the wall to give him more leverage on the binds.

“What you’ve seen from me?”

“Ya ain’t no Shinra pet project shit. Yer a mako junkie that feels he can take on the fuckin’ world and due to how much of the shit ya got in yer system, ya probably can.” The smirk was gone and replaced by a threatening glare. The blonde finally seemed silenced, but Reno did not want to stop there. “Ya were prob’ly usin’ some good, clean shit – as clean as it could get on the streets anyway – before the whole bullshit with Meteor and your dealer disappeared on ya with the attack. Now ya can’t find anythin’ that tastes the same and yer constantly switchin’ dealers and streams, fuckin’ yer own system over. Let me guess, last time ya had a drink it made ya throw up yer insides, tore up yer throat, and ya only drank it cuz ya were curious why ya hadn’t felt thirsty in weeks.”

Vincent listened to the redhead, realized that something similar must have happened to him and from the silence and glare coming from the blonde it seemed to have struck a chord. The other soldiers in the room were also surprised by this information, and how good Reno really was at his job, so the one beside him did not notice the catch of his handgun snapping up.

They should never have thought of these men as soldiers, they dressed like them but all their effects were those of mercenaries, out to fight with everything they have. The blonde was obviously of a higher calibre than them, but the truth stabbing into him now made the anger that radiated off of him appear childish to Vincent. It must have appeared that way only to him though for when the blonde raised a tense hand and cigarette to his lips, the soldier he was trying to steal the gun from jumped lightly, barely noticeable.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit!” Reno spat out, the cigarette finally falling from between his lips and sailing right past his knee to the ground. “Shoulda joined Shinra. They got the good, clean shit. Even have some on ‘em now. True, not drawin’ up any more from the planet, but we had a lot stored up from before the Meteor bullshit.”

“You joined the Turks to get high?” Vincent was glad the blonde had asked the question, as he had been tempted to say it himself. He looked Reno over carefully, trying to figure out the truth behind his words. It was obvious he was not using anymore, at least Vincent thought so, but he did not find it hard to believe that was why Reno tried to join Shinra.

The redhead shrugged in answer. Vincent’s fingers wrapped lightly around the gun, his other arm rising and ready to strike at the man’s head, eyes darting to him, Reno, the blonde, and the other three mercenaries in the room before focusing on the redhead again. He wanted to hear the answer.

“More or less.” Summer eyes glanced at Vincent and the man moved.

The mercenary in front of him collapsed from the single strike to his head, the gun was drawn, and five shots fired in quick succession. The two mercenaries by Reno’s side barely had time to register what happened before they collapsed, one of them just wounded as Reno’s body had partially hidden his and then he fell behind the blonde. The third and forth shots destroyed the links in Reno’s irons and he lost balance, falling forward towards the blonde. The fifth shot killed the mercenary at the door.

Then Vincent moved, his feet never touching the ground as his cape wrapped around him and he moved in front of Reno. He caught the redhead with one hand, covering his body with his own and looking over his shoulder. The blonde stared in amazement.

The ex-Turk’s cloak continued to dance around him, moving off to the side to wrap around Reno revealing that the bottom half of Vincent’s body was gone and the gun aimed at the blonde from his waist. Cold, calculating eyes – specks of gold flying and multiplying in oceans of blood – narrowed at the blonde as he squeezed the trigger, then a second time, forgoing a third one when he realized only one shot had gone off.

In the next moment the cloak wrapped completely around both Vincent and Reno and contracted into itself, flying up and passing through the small space in the bars and disappearing into the ruins of Midgar.

That all happened in under ten seconds.

The door to the small room burst open as a few soldiers ran in, followed by a sweating and worried Arma Regal. “What happened here?” he questioned, noticing the four fallen mercenaries, only one of them awake and clutching his stomach in pain.

“They escaped,” the blonde spoke and turned around. The surprise and disgust on the soldier’s features had his face screwing up in confusion, and then he realized that his face did not move the way he wanted it to. He reached up and touched one cheek, drawing the hand away and looking at the blood and skin hanging on his fingertips. The last bullet Vincent fired had shattered the man’s cheekbone and destroyed the skin and muscle around the area before moving to slice through the center of his ear. The blonde did not feel the pain at all though realized his eye on that side was swelling and he heard the blood gushing from his ear.

“So that is why Vincent Valentine was a legend in Shinra,” he spoke softly and rose from his chair, not even noticing the blood that spilled down his neck and coated one side of his pristine white shirt.

“Get a medic!” Arma ordered one of the men and two of them disappeared.

“And Reno…?” the smirk on his face was lopsided now. He drew his PHS, placing it to the wounded side of his face out of habit and not even caring once he noticed. “Sir?” he ignored the face of MAYHEM before him as he spoke to his employer. “They escaped.” He waited in silence and watched a man rush in with the medic.

He switched the phone to the other ear and allowed the man to touch the wound as he continued the conversation. “Vincent is truly a remarkable marksman, just as you said.”

“He won’t make it,” the second man with the medic was crouching over the only mercenary that had not been immediately killed by the shot.

“Truly, amazing aim,” the blonde spoke to the phone and the lopsided grin returned to his face. He felt a light pressure on the wounded side and realized the wound was being disinfected. He hardly felt the large pad of cloth soaked in alcohol. “However the redhead, Reno… him… oohh…” arousal filled his system when he realized the protective way Vincent had held Reno was not to hide his body from pain, but to keep it to himself from jealousy. “I want him.”


	18. Out of Control

Reno was nothing. He did not exist in that moment of flight and could not find the nerve endings to any appendages to move them. But he felt everything. The wind that usually brushed his hair back now tore through his soul as he flew through a great void of nothingness. The warmth that surrounded him was a familiar hold that kept him safe and protected from the rest of the world. It kept him within that nothingness that was not really nothing but more a collaboration of feelings and emotions between two beings.

No. Not two.

He felt Vincent as he had never felt the man before, he was inside him, surrounding him, penetrating his very being to the core so much that the wind felt like a barely-there breeze in comparison. The man was concentrating really hard on something and it took Reno a moment to realize that he was trying to keep a third entity out of their world of feelings.

Who was that third being? Reno felt he should know very well and should be very wary of it, but as the third entity slowly wrapped around him, trying to use him as a conduct to escape rather than Vincent, he did not feel afraid. He felt an intense heat and pleasure coursing through him. He felt arousal in his veins like never before and he knew that if he had a physical body at that moment he would have reached orgasm already. But the nothingness was keeping him locked in that building pleasure that heated warmth that slicked around him and through him.

He felt Vincent’s gasp, the brush of air was on his neck, and he opened his eyes.

The ex-Turk was on the ground, lying on his back with the redhead draped on top of him. Both men sported prominent erections from the intervention of that third presence and Reno did not even think as his lips descended upon the older man’s. Vincent responded in earnest. Both men were still stuck in that world of nothingness, their brains never registering that they were corporeal once more or that they were lying in the warm grass just on the outskirts of Midgar away from Edge.

Reno’s body moved to find friction, his hips rolling so both clothed erections met. But the pleasure could not even begin to compare to the intensified feelings he had felt moments ago. One hand held him up so he was not completely crushing the older man and knees quickly found purchase on top of the grass and cloak under him. His other hand reached for Vincent and released the man’s erection from its constraints quickly enough. He pulled away from the kiss, noticing the man beneath him was breathless and truly beautiful.

With his head thrown back in pleasure and eyes closed tight to keep it all in Vincent barely realized the redhead atop him had licked his own hand and used the spit to slick his length. The wet warmth had his hips bucking up and knees bending to give him more leverage. Then the heat and pleasure was gone, even the comfortable weight atop him. His eyes opened in confusion and caught sight of Reno straddling him on his knees while pulling his trousers down. He moved away again, one leg left the pants completely, but neither could wait for the other.

Reno leaned forward again, kissing like no tomorrow and reached behind himself. One finger slipped inside, a second quickly joining, and a third following only for a flick of his wrist. He could not wait anymore and he pulled out of the kiss again. Vincent leaned forward, both hands coming to the side of the redhead’s face and pulling him back, tongues meeting in mid air in a pornographic kiss before their lips locked to hide the dance between the slick muscles.

And then the heat returned, even more intense than before and Reno was panting in his mouth as the redhead lowered himself onto the ex-Turk’s length. The pain was just a brief flash in the background for them both, the quick preparation only giving them enough leave for the actions to continue. But even with the tinge of pain pleasure consumed them both, that third entity from the nothingness immersing itself in their loins and joining, driving them both insane in the moment of pleasure.

Reno’s hands found Vincent’s chest and he pulled out of the kiss, pushing the man away at the same time. The ex-Turk was forced down completely, eyes transfixed as he watched the redhead throw his head back, moaning in pleasure as he rode the older man as if he was born to do it. His lips captivated Vincent, moving to form words that never registered to either man. Then Vincent’s eyes travelled lower, that long pale column of throat, the dishevelled white shirt and black blazer that seemed to fit the situation perfectly, those slip hips moving in ways that brought as much pleasure as possible to both men. Vincent licked his lips subconsciously and reached out, only realizing then that his hands had been on the man’s thighs, one bared and one barely covered. One hand pulled the trousers down further, bearing the pale white skin and feeling it with his glove. For a moment he was angered it was not skin-to-skin, but his bare hand was travelling up the other smooth thigh to the hip before reaching and grabbing the bobbing erection.

Reno stilled, shuddered out a moan, and hunched slightly, tightening around Vincent and causing the ex-Turk to growl in pleasure. Then Vincent bucked up, making the redhead glide up his length again before falling down. Reno started moving on his own again and with a few more rolls of his hips and strokes from the older man Reno shuddered his completion.

But Vincent was not done. Just as the last tremors of pleasure were dying out the ex-Turk flipped them over. Reno moaned, as the man started moving between his legs, impaling him once more on his hard length and sliding effortlessly, searching for his own orgasm.

Reno tightened around him, legs wrapping around the hips plundering into him and pivoting his own to provide more friction for the other man. He had found his own pleasure in the man and was now trying desperately to find his. Just as Vincent had searched desperately to find Reno’s and now his instincts forced him to find his own. Reno reached up and grabbed that thick black hair, pulling the man down in a controlling manner that had Vincent bucking harder into him. The ex-Turk was subconsciously fighting for control but he opened himself up as Reno plundered his mouth and held him there. A few more thrusts and he found his own pleasure, yelling it out into the redhead’s mouth as his body’s spasms rushed through to his rocking hips and twitching cock.

He collapsed atop the redhead, breathing heavily, and matching each inhale and exhale with the body beneath him. Both men were still trying to regain their wits about them when they realized where they were. Both knew but neither wanted to voice it to confirm as to what had caused this. The bliss through both their bodies remained even as they cleaned up quickly, dressed, and continued on their way, circling around the remains of Midgar towards Edge.

Neither spoke of the third entity that had pushed them towards the blinding pleasure and what seemed to have been the best orgasm of both their lives, the joining of bodies seeming so natural that they had moved without thought in the matter. And when Vincent realized, horror stricken, that he had given control to the redhead, he grudgingly admitted to himself that he had greatly enjoyed it.

“Fuck,” Reno spoke first in exhale when Edge came into view. “What was that?”

“I do not know.”

“Fuck, but it was _good_!” Vincent nodded slowly at that statement and looked at Reno. The redhead was limping quite badly and he blushed for a moment thinking of how they had just gone at it with barely any preparation, before remembering that the redhead had been shot in the foot.

“Want me to carry you?” Reno raised an eyebrow before a beautiful blush spread on his cheeks.

“It wasn’t that—” then he seemed to remember himself that he was shot and grinned lightly. “S’okay. Mostly healed already. Jus’ need a good fuckin’ drink.”

“Hmm…” Vincent nodded slowly. They both needed a drink now.

They split up shortly after entering Edge. Reno went to buy them tickets on the next plane to the new Junon Area Airstrip and Vincent went into a store to buy a new battery for his phone. Once he called Reeve to tell him what they would be arriving and getting yelled at by Yuffie in the background, the two men made their way quietly to the landing pad where their plane was due to arrive in the next ten minutes. Vincent’s luck on transportation was really something.

As they sat on a bench all others avoided the two dishevelled men. Reno was still in his Turk uniform, though covered in blood and rumpled, with summer eyes blazing a vivid mako green in the bright day. But Vincent beside him looked even more menacing with his blood-red cloak and messy black hair, piercing red eyes scanning the crowd as if looking for food. Reno leaned back and after tapping his unhurt foot for a while and biting his bottom lip, Vincent stood.

“Where are ya goin’?”

“I will be right back.”

“Plane should be landin’ soon.”

Vincent left without another word. Reno stretched his arms on the back of the bench and shrugged lightly. He saw one of the smaller transportation planes land on a strip a short walk from his bench and knew immediately that it was their ride. He stood up with a groan to walk towards it, still limping slightly. The mako in his system was overdoing everything and though the wound was mostly healed and he felt energized, his blood pumping as if on an adrenaline high, he was afraid of the crash that would follow.

When the small ladder to the plane dropped and people started boarding Vincent came back to Reno’s side. He handed the redhead a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The two sat together on the ride, Reno’s leg bouncing in an agitated manner but Vincent recognized it just as needing to get the mako high out of his system. For an old junkie the current high must have been torturing the redhead like crazy.

Later that evening, after Reno’s system had been stabilized once more and he was dragging his feet as he walked – the wound gone but the pain throbbing in his foot – the two men sat in the large dining room before Yuffie and Shelke.

“So what happened?” Yuffie was resting her chin on both hands, leaning forward with a huge grin on her lips as she interrogated both men. Reeve had told her to grab as much information from them as possible before they left for bed. “How’d ya get caught, Vinny? You are better than that usually.”

Reno scowled at the insult when Yuffie glanced at him, obviously blaming the redhead for their capture.

“And how is your system working?” Shelke asked, ignoring the light glare from the man for her speaking it out in the open. True, the four of them were the only ones in the large cafeteria, but he still did not need the fact that he was dying advertised openly to anybody within the vicinity.

“Eat,” Yuffie shoved the plate back towards Reno when the redhead nudged it away from him.

“You both need your nutrients,” Shelke added in. Neither girl was letting the men speak. “Have you taken your injections?”

“Yes, because he had time to shoot up while locked up,” Reno scowled at Shelke, summer eyes narrowing at her in pure anger. He was annoyed at the crash that was still running through his system and mostly that the quiet brunette had been the cause of it.

Vincent rolled his eyes before looking back down at the plate of food before him. He still found eating an annoying task. After not having anything to eat for over thirty years, being forced to shove down food with no real taste by two girls his junior was an annoying matter.

Reno was shovelling the food away, even though not hungry, just to get the two to shut up. “Cid and Reeve are working on speculations as to where the hideout is. So far he is saying Rocket Town.”

“We did get captured in Rocket Town, but we were actually held in Midgar.” Vincent voiced and pushed the plate of food away from him. When Shelke gave him one of her condescending looks he frowned and started picking at the food again. “We need to talk to Reeve about the man that had us.”

“Rufus would wanna know too.”

“Ya haven’t informed him yet?”

Yuffie grinned at Reno and from the flash of teeth and stretch of lips the redhead knew that the ninja was trying to hold something over his head. “Rufus is the one that suggested ya guys get some sleep before giving us all info.”

“Rufus?” Reno voiced in surprise and even Vincent’s red eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Well… Tseng advised him it would be better,” Shelke added in with a shrug and Vincent looked back down at the food staring right back up at him.

Reno however appeared even more confused. And then he remembered what he had seen between Vincent and Tseng and turned to the older man, his lips parted and he took a breath to speak but after a moment he gave up. He looked back down at his almost empty plate and glanced at Vincent’s barely touched one.

They were both forced to remain in the cafeteria till Vincent ate all of his food. That was also when both girls were completely confirmed of the men’s relationship. Reno had gotten so tired of Vincent trying to avoid his food that he had leaned closer with a small grin and practically purred out the words: “ya finish the rice and I’ll give ya head again.” Both girls' jaws had practically hit the floor at the blush that appeared on Vincent’s cheeks. "For you," Reno practically breathed into the gunman's ear, this time too quiet for the girls to hear, "I’ll even swallow." The older man just glared lightly at Reno before turning back to his food and finishing everything.

The following morning Rufus, Tseng, Reeve, and Cid sat together with Yuffie and Shelke when the two men explained what had happened to them. When Reno was obviously holding back information, Rufus instructed him that Reeve was to know everything he did.

“They were talkin’ ‘bout gettin’ into our mako supplies, boss.”

“What?” Vincent’s head turned sharply at that information when Cid voiced his displeasure.

“I thought you were lying when you told that man that Shinra still had mako with them,” Vincent spoke quietly, ignoring the look of anger on Cid’s features as the man tore into a toothpick.

Reno shrugged lightly, not looking at the older man. “They know all ‘bout ‘em. The bitch in control was even sayin’ that they need the mako to get Chaos outta the crystals.”

“Why did you not share this information with me?” Reeve watched in surprise as Vincent turned on the redhead. “I think I have every right to know something like this.”

“I also have reason ta believe Chaos ain’t fully locked in da crystal.”

“How dare you—”

“That is enough,” Rufus raised a hand to interrupt Vincent and turned to Reeve. “If you don’t mind?” Reeve nodded wordlessly and watched the blonde president take control of the situation as if he was born to do it. And he was born for it because within seconds Tseng had orders to follow and Reno was put on ‘leave’.

“What!?” Reno shouted in surprise.

“We have already discovered I cannot kill you,” Rufus stated calmly, bringing curious eyes from all the others on himself. “And I, sadly, cannot afford to fire you. Your skills are too useful even if you are a pain in my ass, so I have decided for your own safety to put you under house arrest.”

“I was doin’ ma job! Ya told me ta follow ‘im! Actually, you _threatened_ me!!”

“But I said nothing about getting captured, now did I?” Rufus glanced at the tall Wutaian beside him before turning his cold blue eyes back to Reno. “And absolutely nothing about sharing valuable information.”

“I told ‘em nothin’!” Reno snapped, rising from his chair so quickly that it flew back, starling Shelke into silence and Cid to stare at him surprised. “I’m fuckin’ loyal ta ya and ya lock me up!”

“Loyal like a dog, yes. But that is only when you are not high.”

Silence followed the statement and Reno’s eyes widened in surprise. “Mako high on me was from the rush and lack of nutrients. Ya know that!”

“Reno,” Tseng raised a hand to calm the man down as he stood from his own seat. “We also know that it is impossible to heal a shotgun wound in a day without being injected by mako.”

“Ya think they drugged me ta speak?” the redhead looked offended as he watched the Wutaian male stand. “Bullshit Tseng, ya know me better than that. Ya’ve been with me when I’ve been interrogated before, ya’ve done it yerself on me more than once!”

“But we’ve never used mako on you.” Rufus spoke, both hands raised to hide the small smirk on his lips. “You shall be kept away from all information on the matter until everything with MAYHEM has been cleared up.”

Reno glared at the blonde president. “Fuck ya’ll!” he spat out and turned around. On his way out of the room he kicked his fallen chair down, sending it flying against the wall. This time he did slam the door when he left the room.

“Tseng, call Rude back to watch him. I will not trust anybody else on the matter and I need you with me.”

“Yes, sir,” the Wutaian left the room as well, picking up the chair and setting it in its spot before he did, and closing the door silently behind him.

“He was a mako junkie?” Yuffie seemed most surprised by that information.

It was Shelke who responded. “When I was treating him for the mako high I noticed too many different streams for it to be anything else. He must have mixed it with almost every other drug imaginable and even the clean stream that Rufus provided me with is not strong enough to get rid of the rest of the drugs still in his system.”

“Still in his system?”

“Not the drugs, per se, but their after effects.”

“And we trusted him with so much information,” Reeve gasped out in surprise.

Cid grunted as well and glared at Rufus. “That kid knows how all the supply runs work and every inch a’ detail on all ships part of da WRO.”

“He will not speak,” Rufus shook his head.

“But you said…”

Yuffie was cut off as the man’s cold blue eyes glazed over her. “Veld himself personally trained and cleaned Reno up. Rude has kept watch over him on the matter for almost ten years. I may not like him, but I trust the street rat. This is just a necessary precaution on the matter. They wanted _him_ not Vincent.”

“I apologize I was not entertaining enough,” Vincent’s sarcasm leaked out on those words. “The man that held us captive, Reno figured him out completely in eight days and broke through him in less than five minutes. I doubt he is alive, however if he is he would want Reno back.”

“That was why I said I am just taking precautions. Reno is more valuable to me than you would imagine. I do not want his intellect to fall in the wrong hands nor do I want him hooked on drugs again.” Rufus spoke with a complete calm, ignoring the narrowed red eyes that pierced him.

“Fuckin’ ass don’t trust me.” Reno groaned out that evening, complaining as per usual when he had the chance. He had been put under house arrest with somebody always watching him when he was not in his apartment. The fact that he was staying in Edge instead of the new Junon Area made the order that much more severe.

“He trusts you with his life,” Rude commented and took a small sip from the beer in front of him.

Since Reno had been escorted to Edge by five of the Turks-in-training, which was obvious Reno could have escaped from at any time, Rude had been watching over him. The large man was glad to be back with his old partner. They had worked together since Veld grabbed Reno off the streets over ten years ago and cleaned him up to get him into the Turks. Rude had been there beside him when the redhead had gone back to drugs the first time and helped him through withdraw in the first year of their partnership.

Seeing the redhead hunched over the bar and cradling a bottle of tequila under one armpit while drinking from a glass of scotch was not as strange to him as others would have thought.

“Bulllshiitt! Rufus fuckin’ hates my guts! He’s tried ta be rid of me so many times now, ain’t even funny no more.”

Rude nodded at that. He could not deny each statement when he had seen proof openly. “But you didn’t give him up, right?”

Summer eyes, glazed over with alcohol and a light tinge of mako, looked at the black man in hurt and surprise. “Ya know me Rude; I ain’t gonna tell 'em shit no matter what I’m under!”

“Just checking.”

“Tseng himself said it – as did Veld! – that the fact I used ta be a junkie makes it harder fer other drugs ta take effect on me. Fuck! Both Tseng and ya were with me that time in Wutai when they got us. Ya know I can hold my shit.”

“I know you can tell very entertaining truths,” Rude smirked in response. He watched Reno empty the glass. “Common, let’s get ya home.”

“I ain’t drunk yet!” Reno protested.

“That’s what that bottle under your arm is for. Now let me get you home in one piece before you decide to die of alcohol poisoning.”

“He took ma job from me, man! What do I do now!?” Reno whined as Rude practically peeled him off the bar. The older Turk paid their bill and supported the redhead as they left the bar. Although Reno did not feel drunk yet his legs said otherwise.

A few blocks away from Reno’s apartment and Rude’s PHS went off. When the man would not answer it Reno glared at him in drunken anger and spat out for him to pick up. They stopped in their walk and after Rude checked the caller id he cleared his throat.

“Ya blushin’?” Reno’s drunken smile widened and with surprisingly speed he grabbed the PHS from the older man. Rude took it back immediately but not before Reno glanced at the screen and read the name. “Tifa? Whoa, whoa, whoa… share this little gem! Since when!?

“Shut up,” Rude flicked his phone open. “Rude…. yes I’m in Edge …. Just walking Reno back to his place then I’ll be free …. No, no, I don’t mind …. Not at all. Be there soon …. Bye.”

Once he hung up he noticed the drunken grin on Reno’s lips. “It’s not what you think.”

“I’d hope not, if ya were as kinky as I was thinkin’ it’d be bad—” Reno quieted when Rude ‘playfully’ punched his shoulder. “So share. What happened?” they started walked to his apartment again.

“I was at her bar once when Cloud called. She had to leave so she grabbed me to watch the kids.”

Reno’s grin fell. “So yer her babysitter?”

Even though the shades hid his eyes Reno knew his partner well enough to know that the man was glaring at him. “That’s just how it started. We’ve been… going out for drinks and dinner every now and then.”

“Ooohhhh! Where are ya goin’ tonight?”

“Her place.” Reno’s wolf whistle echoed off the walls around them as they walked. “She owns a bar, Reno.”

“Pssht… details. She’s got a bed near ‘er. But… ain’t she with chocobo-head?”

“Cloud? No. Don’t know the details, but they are not romantically involved.”

“Who cares about romance, it’s fuckin’!”

“Just because you fuck everything on two legs does not mean everybody else does,” Rude snapped at him.

Reno backed up lightly with a grin. “Don’t always fuck it,” the grin fell into a secretive smile.

“You have a steady partner now?”

“Tche… not… that steady,” he laughed suddenly and both had to stop because Reno lost balance. But Rude did not get the joke. “Look, ma place is right there. Go meet yer girl.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Reno lifted the bottle of tequila lightly in a sign. “Aaand I’m expectin’ a guest tanight.”

“You scare me sometimes, man.”

“I know,” Reno smirked and pushed away from the larger man to swagger towards his building. “Meet yer girl. Tell her she’s got nice boobs. Use me as an excuse if ya wanna…” he skipped a few steps in his walk as if expecting Rude to tackle him down for that comment. “Have a fun night, partner.”

“Be careful, Reno.”

Rude turned around and jogged down the street to get to Tifa’s place faster. He had a bad feeling in his gut but when he looked over his shoulder he saw Reno entering his apartment building. He did not, however, see the men that jumped the redhead in the hall right outside his apartment that knocked him unconscious and carried him out back in a sleek black hair. He did not see the lopsided grin on a blonde’s features as the redhead was deposited bound, gagged, and passed out in his feet.

“Get going. Don’t want to miss the plane to Nibel.” He spoke with a strange lilt in his voice, caused by the fact that half of his face was torn and still bandaged together.


	19. REMORSE

“What is he doing here?” a distorted voice sounded inside Reno’s head, bouncing around and making him want to throw up.

“Who cares?” another voice sounded in annoyance. The redhead blinked a few times to try and keep his eyes open and focused. He noticed books and sheets on the carpeted floor under him. The carpet was old and rough against his cheek. He wanted to sit up but his hands were tied behind his back with a light cord.

“I don’t care about him.”

“He knows more than he gives.”

Silence followed and Reno tried to quietly orient himself as he lay on the ground what felt like between the two men speaking. One of them had a strange lilt that for some reason he thought should mean something serious.

“Then why didn’t you get it out of him when you were in Midgar?”

“Because the stubborn bastard is a Turk! He’s been trained to resist interrogations.”

“And why bring him here?”

The silence that stretched made Reno’s stomach roll and he closed his eyes when he heard the footsteps of the second man, the one with the lilt in his voice, coming closer from behind him. “We can take him to see the beastie.”

“And that would make him speak?”

A heavy foot landed on his side, a side that felt surprisingly tender, and Reno coughed on reflex. “The street rat knows how to defy drugs, but not true fear,” his summer eyes opened and he vaguely recognized the bandaged face looking straight down at him. “If it doesn’t work, we let the beastie feed on him. He’s got enough mako in his system to keep the beastie with us.”

“But what if Vincent comes looking for him?” the first man seemed unsure in his words and Reno doubted that he was the blonde’s earlier mentioned ‘employer’. “We can’t afford to have him anywhere near Chaos.”

“Whoop-dee-doo! Beastie’s already fused with the chick in the crystals. If that’s not what it wants, it’s got another body full of mako right here,” more weight came down on the redhead and Reno moaned in pain, realizing the man was pushing down on a recently made bruise.

“It’s all mako this, mako that for you! You think of anything else other than your next high!?”

“Hey!” the blonde’s piercing green eyes finally snapped away from Reno and to the man still out of the redhead’s sight. “I told you I was in this only for the mako. Not only have I done most of the work for finding Shinra’s stash myself, but you’ve done shit on your own work!”

“Don’t you dare!” the voice threatened and Reno’s eyes widened when he noticed the blonde pulling the shotgun free of the straps of his straight leg and dangling it atop his body. “I paid you! You work for _me_!”

“Bullshit,” the blonde grinned, shotgun raised. “I may as well even keep the beastie to myself. It’s a part of the planet, it may find me some clear access to mako.” The shot that sounded sent Reno’s ears ringing and nausea rolling up in his stomach once more. His eyes crossed, the ringing never ceased to bounce from inside his head, and he hunched over, trying to keep his stomach from contracting. It was trying to expel his innards, he just knew it. When his eyes opened enough to see the blonde looking down at him, he was glad for the shotgun hit him in the head and knocked him out.

When Reno came to again this time it was much harsher than before. The cold water shocked his system into an adrenaline rush and he immediately registered everything around him. Wooden boards over coarse rock, as if in some type of cave. He wanted to look around but did not want to keep his attention away from the blonde in front of him.

“Fucking beautiful,” the green eyes, one slightly lopsided now, were staring at him from the distance. Reno watched as the blonde pulled the syringe away from his arm and pulled the sleeve of his white dress-shirt down. It finally seemed to register to him why the blonde’s green eyes seemed so alive. “He’s fucking high,” the blonde spoke again as he came closer and leaned down to look at him.

The bandage from his cheek was gone and Reno quickly enough recognized the fading scars from the shot Vincent had fired at him. The green glow of those eyes was so bright as mako ran through the man’s system that Reno could have sworn he saw the scars stitching closed in front of him. The focus on those eyes though had Reno wanting to back away and that was when he realized: he was not on an adrenaline high but a mako one.

“Ya fuckin’ injected me with that shit!” he accused immediately. If he had done it now maybe he had done it during those eight days with Vincent in that small cell underground. What if Reno _had_ said something to him? But though he felt the slight high and rush of mako through him, he was completely aware and in control of himself.

“It’s not shit. I injected you with a very high quality batch! I would like to hear a thank you, if it’s not too much trouble.” At Reno’s glare and silence the blonde’s grin widened.

“Ya killed yer employer.” Reno stated to change the topic.

“An employer that doesn’t pay? Of course… although I do admit I had no idea of Shinra’s secret supply of mako until he mentioned it. Too bad he didn’t know anything else.”

“Who was he?”

“A minor member from Shinra before Meteor struck. That’s how he knew about your supply.”

“And all that shit about Chaos?”

“Shhh…” the blonde smirked and put a hand around Reno’s shoulders. “Don’t offend the guy,” he turned Reno’s chair slightly and the redhead immediately realized where he was. He was in the cave system with the mako crystals. The part he was in was covered in boards as if to build a living space inside the rock, but the large crystal structure with the demon inside it was hard to miss.

Reno’s eyes widened as he watched the creature. It’s entire left arm had broken out of the crystal, its form having shifted inside to appear as if he was ready to run and the white cloth that had been Lucrecia’s gown was hanging partially out of the crystal, torn and shredded to pieces.

“Isn’t he beautiful?”

“What are ya gonna do with ‘im?”

“I’m not sure yet. You see, I did not really have any plans of acquiring him.” Both men watched as a few men carefully inched a barrel around the crystal, away from the twitching obsidian claw. “Don’t stare him in the eyes!” the blonde warned him suddenly and forcefully turned his face away. “He can get inside your head and make you go crazy. That idiot lost quite a few men before he figured it out.”

“Are they yer men now?”

The blonde smirked. “They were originally _my_ men. I lent them to him for his cause. But now that he is dead, the men, Chaos, and the mako supply… will all be mine.”

“What are ya gonna do with it?”

“Why should I answer your questions?”

“Cuz ya like hearin’ yerself talk,” Reno’s head snapped to the side from the punch the blonde delivered after that comment. He licked his bleeding lip and laughed as he turned to face him. After the second swipe of his tongue the cut on his lips was gone. He watched the man glare at his lips in anger. “Ya hopin’ to get him ta work fer ya? Kill fer ya? Maybe use ‘im as a dog to sniff out yer mako?”

“Nothing that simple,” the blonde straightened and brushed his hair back. “I expect him to be fully under my control once I set him free,” some of the men were working with machines to try and break away the crystals around the demon’s head but the precious stones proved a hard challenge.

“How? Ya gonna feed ‘im mako and hope it helps? He needs a body ta survive and I doubt that chick’s one will do for it.”

“Of course I know all that,” the blonde looked over his shoulder, his lips curving in that lopsided grin before he straightened his shirt and made his way towards the crystal. Slowly understanding dawned on the redhead, but he denied the information and hoped he was guessing wrong. “Dear Reno of the Turks, I would like you to meet Chaos,” he motioned with great gestures between the two of them. “Chaos will reside inside my body once he is free. In return… Chaos meet Reno,” he turned to the trapped beast. “He is to be your first meal once out of here.”

Those piercing mako green eyes focused on Reno from the distance. “Now, Reno. You have until we break Chaos free of the crystals to tell me where Rufus Shinra is keeping his supply of mako.”

“Ya can’t control that beast! Are ya crazy!?” Reno screamed, suddenly finding reason to panic and trying to get some sense into the blonde before him. “Vincent couldn’t fuckin’ control it and he’d been hostin’ ‘im for thirty fuckin’ years! Are ya nuts?!”

“Vincent was weak!” the blonde snapped, all humour and signs of a grin gone from his features. “That is why the beast still wants him!”

Reno’s eyes widened. That was the reason Vincent’s left arm – the one that Chaos had freed from the crystals! – had turned to the obsidian claw. That was why he could still use some of the strange beast’s abilities. That was why they could not have Vincent anywhere near them. That was why they did not interrogate him! If Vincent accepted Chaos all of their plans were ruined. But then the man had to house the demon inside him once more.

That was who the third presence had been in their world of nothingness and blinding pleasure.

The blonde continued to speak, facing the demon and shouting something or other about the creature that Reno knew would tear him apart. He was afraid of Vincent so he pretended the man was nothing. Reno’s summer eyes focused on Chaos once more and as if on instinct the golden globes behind the crystal found him and focused on him.

Warmth and recognition filled Reno’s mind before he passed out.

At that moment Vincent shot up in his bed, denying Chaos entrance into his mind as he felt the beast moving around. He looked to the side at Tseng, the quiet Wutaian cleaning his gun as he sat in the corner chair of their shared room.

“It’s just past noon.”

“Kjata,” Vincent dropped back into the bed, closing his eyes tight and trying to understand why Chaos’s presence inside his head had felt so comforting and familiar. True, he had shared a body with the beast for over thirty years, but he had never felt Chaos be anything more than… anything… _compassionate_. He always wanted control and to reign in the pain that was his name.

Five days ago Reno had gone missing. At first Vincent had thought that the redhead was disappearing just to spite Rufus and his ‘house arrest’, but everybody were a little wary with the redhead missing now. Rufus even seemed slightly twitchy not having the annoying street rat within reach. Three days ago Tseng had asked Vincent to look for Reno. That was when Vincent finally admitted to himself that he _felt_ Reno’s presence near him and had a sinking thought that the redhead was near Chaos.

“Everything alright?” Tseng’s cultured voice sounded right above him and Vincent’s red eyes shot open. The man was a perfect killer as Vincent had not heard him move and he was leaning right above the berserker now.

“No,” Vincent stood up and gently nudged the other man away from him. “I feel…” confusion passed on his features, “ _horrible_.”

“Sick?” Tseng had also become a witness of Vincent’s coughing fits and found out everything about his condition after cornering Shelke and Vincent walking in on them. Vincent had given the man all the information he knew, Shelke providing the rest with his approval.

“No… just… I feel like shit for getting Reno into his.” A slender eyebrow rose as Tseng watched the older man stand up from the bed and collect his shirt from the ground. “I got him into this and—”

“Trust me, Vincent. If there is one thing Reno is good at, it’s getting himself in trouble.”

The older man silenced, looking over the shoulder that Tseng was resting a hand on to stop him. That hand served as a stop to his mind and he could think of nothing else to say on the matter. But just because he did not say it, did not mean that he did not feel it.

The pain that was stabbing through him was worse than what he had felt when he first lay down in that coffin in Nibelheim and closed it after him. It was worse than seeing his love’s child rampaging through the world in hopes to destroy it. It was worse than seeing Cloud’s eyes glaze over every time he thought of Aerith or Zack. He had thought everything was his fault and that the demons were his punishment. He had accepted them.

Once the demons disappeared he was not being punished anymore. He was allowed to live and die of old age. Red eyes met through a small mirror in the room and he ignored Tseng’s questioning glance and nudge behind him. His uncovered hand rose to his face. It was not that big of a difference but Vincent never really looked in the mirror. He not only felt older but he looked it. True, he was not the sixty-year-old bag of wrinkles he should have been, but in the past few months he must have aged at least five years.

“Maybe,” Tseng started speaking, meeting his eyes in the dingy mirror in the distance, “all the previous pain cleared to allow new. This remorse you feel, do you regret it?”

Vincent’s eyes dropped to the shirt still held in his hand. He felt Chaos probing at his mind, trying to get to him. He turned slightly to look at the bed and noticed the torn and shredded sheets on one side of the bed. Tseng must have been awoken by the movements and seen everything. Blood red met with endless pits of darkness as the two men locked eyes. The probing was becoming more intense, but it was not one for control or the usual blood lust. It was not as if the demon was trying to tear out of him now, but more to just tell him that, yes he was there. And he would protect him.

Protect? Protect whom?

He closed his eyes and summer eyes, a beautiful mako mix of green, blue, and silver, darted behind his eyelids with those red tattoo swipes under them. He vaguely felt his body collapsing, Tseng’s arms winding around him to break the fall, but before his body connected to whatever surface Tseng lowered him to, his mind entered that state of nothingness.

The state used to be filled with the presence of four beasts, each battling for control of his body and voicing their desires, forcing them upon him. He was always in that state when one of them took over and the only way he knew which one was the lack of attention from one of the beings. He had shared this state with only one other creature and Reno had become the flame in the darkness. His passion had exploded around them both and had literally forced Vincent out of the state, shoving him out in the pure intensity of feelings.

And as he entered that nothingness once more he felt a familiar warmth and passion. It was as if a candle was burning in an endless darkness but the more immersed he became in the state of nothing the closer the candle got until he realized it was a great bonfire that burned with never-ending passion.

Then he felt him. The redhead was winding through and around him. He was in pain until they connected and now no other feelings came but the pure intoxication of pleasure as they wound together. There was that familiar third presence itching at the back of his mind. Vincent knew that Chaos was there. The demon had usually stood out the most, bearing the most attention and control when in this state of darkness, but now he seemed to slink back.

It was as if the demon was a feline, pacing and waiting on the sidelines for the gate to lower before he could pounce on his prey. But when Vincent lowered his guard, dropped that gate wide open so he could feel the redhead deeper inside him, Chaos remained put. He was just sitting on the sidelines, watching them with eyes that did not exist as Reno and Vincent wound through each other.

Their beings formed, entered and surrounded one another bringing the most pleasure possible until they finally entwined to become one and reached the peak of pleasure.

Then Chaos stepped forward. He moved closer and Vincent recognized the demon’s feelings as if they were his own. A moment later he realized they _were_ his own. His want and need for the redhead melted with the beast’s and the intensity between them rose even higher. He felt the pain coming from Reno at the intensity of his feelings, of his feelings intertwined with that of the demon, because they both wanted the same thing.

They both wanted Reno.

Vincent came to and realized he was once more lying in bed in the dingy motel room he was sharing with Tseng. He felt an uncomfortable wetness on his crotch and groaned in embarrassment when he realized what it was. Looking over he saw the small smirk and mischief that glinted on the Turk leader’s features.

“Do _not_ say a word,” Vincent threatened as he rose and went to the bathroom to clean up. When the berserker exited the bathroom he had a towel wrapped around his waist, not seeming bothered at all to hide his scars from the other man. “We leave as soon as my clothes dry.”

The tiny smirk widened barely a fraction but Vincent’s sharp eyes saw it and narrowed in anger.

“So… what did you find out in your out-of-body experience? Or did you do it just for the sex?” Vincent flung the closest thing to him at the Turk leader and Tseng laughed out loud, a strange sound to all ears, as the pillow hit his raised forearms.

“Shut up. Reno is with Chaos in Lucrecia’s cave.”

“Interesting. I shall inform Rufus of the situation. What is your plan?”

“Do not have a plan yet.”

Tseng nodded slowly as he opened his PHS. “I’ll also tell him to bring you an extra pair of pants.”

Vincent growled and Tseng once more laughed, stopping only when Rufus picked up on the other end and voiced: _“what has you so entertained this time, Tseng?”_ the amused blonde questioned, mood instantly brightening at hearing the older man laugh.


	20. Taking Control

Reno’s head snapped to the side one more time and this time the chair could not take the force and collapsed as well. He winced in pain, the wooden chair and his body landing atop one of his tied hands, and breaking the bone. But just a moment later the lace of the mako still inside his system overwhelmed the pain and he felt the bone slowly healing back together.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck… no…” he muttered, ignoring the smirking blonde in the background. He thrashed his body, lifted it and caused the chair to fall on his broken forearm again and again but the wound was already healing with the excess drugs in his body and he knew as soon as the high was gone he would be screaming in pain at how it had healed wrong.

“You know, your friend used to have the same problem,” the blonde smirked as he ran a small rag over the long neck of his shotgun. Reno had been watching the man polish his gun for two days now and was hoping that he would wear out the metal to nothing.

“Fuck off,” the large man that had punched him easily righted his chair once more before throwing another fist in his face to the other side. This time Reno did not go with the punch and his chair only rocked a little but did not tip over. He had bit his cheek with that one.

He knew about Vincent’s healing abilities, had seen it himself once by accident when he was still part of AVALANCHE and Reno had deigned being off-duty not to follow them. But he did follow them that night out of curiosity and had seen the berserker fight and break his forearm. Then had seen the gruff pilot distract the others back to their campsite as Vincent re-broke his hand and set the bones to heal properly. The growl of pain had sent Reno’s red hair spiking up like a cat. Only after he had actually become friends with Cid did he find out how fast the man used to heal.

“Ya gonna ask any questions worth answerin’? Or can I just go back ta sleep now?” another punch, this time the large hunk of meat and muscle before him bent down so that his fist buried itself in Reno’s stomach.

“Inject him again,” the blonde ordered, his expression serious though it made Reno giggle for the fact that half his face was lopsided. The mako and drugs had healed the man’s face completely so that even no scars remained, but the healing had not happened fast enough and half of his face was now stuck in a permanent droop. If he had not seen him before and had not been beaten much the same way as now, Reno might have argued that he may have been handsome before he met with Vincent.

The large man before him grabbed his head roughly, as Reno had bitten one of the men that had first tried to inject him, and used his hold to keep the redheaded demon still. His blazer had been removed long ago and from the many falls during his torture his sleeves had been ripped to shreds. The small man that came to his side did not even look at what he was doing as he jabbed the needle in his upper arm and injected him.

Reno growled against the feeling and closed his eyes; clenching his jaw so tight he was getting a headache. The mako that rushed through him sent him on edge and he felt every nerve in his body tingling as all wounds he had healed completely. He was still sore from them and he knew that once this was over his body would pay severely for all of the constant damage and healing, but nothing he could do now. And he had learned that the mako did not affect him quite how the blonde had hoped and he feared. All it did was give him a blissful high that enhanced his bodily functions and leave a tingle at the back of his jaw under his ears after the initial rush.

As he felt the pressure subsiding into the tingle now his eyes opened as he stared at the blonde and grinned. No need to fight it anymore. “Where did ya say ya got this stuff? Quite good quality, ya get enough on ya?”

The blonde growled and nodded to the large man. “Have fun with him,” that was usually all he said before holstering the shotgun back to the straps on his leg and leaving the room. The large man indeed had fun and Reno was usually left breathless within minutes of that command and wincing in pain and pleasure as the wounds that appeared were immediately healed.

The mako in his system spiked to a new high and the first few punches he did not even feel. Then he realized his vision was swimming and barely a moment to follow he was imagining gold around him. Mako, as a drug, was not usually used as a hallucinogen. True, if it was mixed with the proper drugs it could enhance any vision a user would see beyond belief, but Reno knew from the feel and _taste_ of the drug that he was being injected with, that the blonde was keeping it as pure and concentrated as was possible for the human body to take in. Reno had learned earlier that the man got his stash from Mideel before the new Turks had reclaimed the city and it was not in rebel control.

He closed his eyes at the onslaught of gold and emotions and distantly felt a new sense of vertigo as his chair tipped again. This time though he did not feel it hit the ground but he continued falling until he entered that amazing state of nothingness where he had met Vincent more than once. The last time he had met the man’s presence he had been overwhelmed with the possessive show of emotions that came from both Vincent and the berserker’s main demon, and had exited on a euphoric high of pleasure. The blonde had blamed the mako for Reno’s arousal and release and secretly Reno had blamed it too.

But now the gold was a comforting presence and if the demon was physical he knew that the obsidian beast would be cradling his body and using its wings to hide him from the world. It would then draw the mako out of his body to destroy the crystals and—Vincent!

The berserker was just outside the cave leading a small team of Turks and WRO soldiers. Then his vision changed to the Nibelheim mansion surrounded by Rebel forces and the WRO soldiers and Turks hiding in the under bush, ready to strike. Once more his vision changed to a close up and he easily recognized the blonde spikes that belonged to Cloud and right beside him Tifa. Then Rude appeared on the outskirts of Rocket Town beside that cat-demon with the flaming tail. Once more the hallucination changed this time to the ruins of Midgar. At what used to be the base of the Shinra Tower stood Barrett and Elena, holding off for an attack as well. Then he saw Reeve in the passenger seat of a truck travelling from Gongaga towards the caves with what could only be Rufus’s last supply tank of mako rocking in the back. Once more the hallucination changed and Rufus was sitting in his new office at the WRO headquarters and handing out commands and communications between the teams. Cid was in his prized _Highwind_ , now running off natural energy instead of mako, and ordering the WRO fleet as they split around the world to attack the different Rebel strongholds at once.

Reno smirked when another punch doused the hallucination and he felt Vincent inside him once more. The powerful man had a thing for control and he never wanted to release it so it was no surprise that Reno found himself handcuffed to the headboard of the bed and completely under the berserker’s care. And even as Vincent’s red eyes flashed gold and remained that colour, Reno could only moan in pleasure at being claimed like the prey the older man saw him as.

“We’re under attack!” a distant shout paused the next punch and Reno’s vibrant mako eyes snapped open and took him out of his illusion to see the large man turned with his back to him. Men and women were shouting inside the caves, gunshots were coming from the distance but all Reno cared about was that the man was distracted.

Knowing that the mako in his system made him strong enough for it and the constant falls had loosened the ropes on his hands, he tore one hand free and quickly reached down to untie his feet. The man turned around just in time to see this so Reno acted on instinct. He sideswiped the punch that came at him, his already jarred forearm groaning in protest at the action but the punch missing its target completely over his shoulder. The man was close enough so Reno’s free hand grabbed at his shirt and yanked him even closer, using the momentum of the attack to tip them both.

The small wooden chair toppled with both men on top and Reno’s free leg wrapped around the large man to keep him in place while his free hand easily found the sensitive spots on his throat, the previously broken and reset fingers grabbed on and then he pulled.

Blood coated his face as the skin and tendons around the man’s Adam’s apple tore apart in his fingers. In a gruesome display of the mako high Reno found himself using his free hand to smudge the blood against his cheek and bring it to his lips before he realized what he was doing. Before he realized that the bright glow against his hand that came from his eyes was not green but gold. A feral grin split his lips and he easily slipped out of the rest of the rope and out from underneath the man. Only when he stood did he notice that his other ankle was twisted awkwardly.

He reset the appendage and started moving without thought or even arming himself. From the shouts around him it seemed that the Rebels had been caught off guard but were doing well now. Reno thought for a moment if Vincent really had led the attack force of Turks into the caves to save him but that thought was wiped off as he noticed Chaos staring at him from the distance with glowing mako-green eyes.

The redhead rushed towards the captive demon without even thinking. The blonde noticed him limp across the cavern floor and his eyes widened in surprise before glancing to see his man dead in the small boarded-off section of the cave. When he turned back to Reno the Turk was nearly at the crystals.

His eyes focused on the entrance as an explosion sounded and shook the entire cave-system, chunks of rock falling all around them and some of his men falling under the rubble. “No,” he growled quietly to himself. He was a mercenary and without having anybody paying him now, he had no reason to remain in this fight. As he was turning around he had a second thought. Reno pissed him the _fuck_ off.

Just as the redhead reached the crystals and seemed ready to use his own hands to try and break through, in a fit of insanity and mako-high, the blonde reached him from behind and the shotgun was once more lodged between Reno’s shoulder blades. He heard the shouts and gunfire behind him and knew they were losing the battle.

“You know, you annoy me so greatly, yet I still don’t want to kill you, but keep you as company.” The blonde spoke and watched as Reno slumped against the crystals and turned around. He leaned against the precious stones as if supporting himself and in his dishevelled and bloodied state he looked every bit the insane demon as the beast behind him.

“Ya a mercenary, no? Tell me yer name at least, maybe I can get ya to work fer me in the near future once I get outta here,” Reno smirked, running his hands against the sharp crystals behind him and feeling them tearing at his skin. What surprised him though, was that the wounds did not immediately heal from the mako, instead it felt like the crystal was trying to suck his blood out of his body. His fingers noticed the crystal eroding under his blood as it was sucked away but the importance of that did not register.

“Why not call me Reno?” A grin was on the man’s lips, shotgun never falling from his one-handed aim on the redhead. He knew better than to let him out of his sight or underestimate him again. But the golden glow of the redhead’s eyes scared the man more than he was willing to admit.

Reno’s one hand rose in a mock, two-fingered salute before turning it to the famous one-fingered insult at the blonde. “Fuck ya upside the head.” Both men smirked at the insult and the blonde gently squeezed the trigger.

“Reno!” a shout that the redhead distinctly recognized as Tseng sounded in the background right before the explosion of the shotgun over-powered everything else. But he also heard another familiar click of a gun and last minute the blonde mercenary’s body twitched turning the gun away slightly.

The redheaded Turk barely felt the pain from the shot but he knew he was hit and that the mako was just denying him to feel the pain. Then the crystal behind him started sucking everything away and the pain spread through his entire body. He looked up, seeing everything in a strange golden tint with a buzz around every moving object and noticed the blonde falling to the ground. He was crouching before him, clutching at his bleeding shoulder and unable to hold his gun. Staring up into the distance Reno immediately found Tseng looking at him. From the slightly shocked expression on his boss’s face Reno immediately understood it was not him who fired.

Then the sound of the second gun registered and though his features were still twisted in confusion, it took too much thought to change them to understanding or relief, his eyes quickly locked onto Vincent. The berserker still had Death Penalty pointed at where the blond had stood and in turn pointing it at Reno now.

The redhead smirked slightly but the narrowed red eyes only widened in surprise as the gun fell down between them and they focused on Reno’s chest. The redhead felt the pain in his body more acutely now and those slow moments that were enhanced by the mako slowed even more as he looked down at himself. His white dress shirt was completely torn to shreds and the entire right side of his chest was covered in the small holes that revealed the shotgun pellets had in fact hit him. What surprised him most though was the sharp black protrusion from his chest.

And then everything sped up for him. The mako from his system was drained through the crystal and he felt his body slumping but the black spike held him suspended against the crystal. Blood spilled from his lips when he tried to open them to speak his confusion then his eyes widened as he felt the warm breath of blood and death by his neck from behind.

Vincent watched as the last of Reno’s consciousness faded from his mind before the redhead slumped completely held only by the spike at the end of Chaos’s wing as the demon was breaking out of the crystal. Something must have triggered his release when the redhead was close because the crystal was cracking from right behind his back and that was where Chaos’s muzzle was protruding to sniff at the pale column of Reno’s neck.

Then gold eyes met crimson and the demon broke free completely. The last of the crystal flew into shards, piercing anybody within the vicinity, and making the blonde that had been crawling away stagger in pain as most of them dug into his thighs, legs, and back.

Chaos roared, stretching his frame and causing everybody to pause and stare at the demon in wonder. Reno’s limp form hung loosely from one wing before he slipped off and both wings stretched to their full as well, the tips reaching the ceiling of the cavern.

“Pull back! Everybody pull back!” Tseng ordered quickly, nudging the men that were too transfixed to move. The golden eyes snapped to the Turk leader but Tseng held his ground and stared back while his men, and the remaining Rebels, slowly spilled out of the cavern until all that remained were the blonde, Reno’s limp frame, Vincent and Chaos.

With a snap of his jaws towards Tseng the Wutaian male slowly stalked towards Vincent. The man was transfixed as well, but not by the deadly demon that he had housed in his body before. He was transfixed in Reno’s limp frame, having fallen in an awkward position and not moved since.

“I have a Phoenix Down on me, but if he doesn’t get it now, he’s gone.” Tseng spoke when he neared Vincent, eyes never tearing away from Chaos as the demon hunched over once more and watched him as a predator might stalking his prey. As he continued his slow stalk from behind Vincent and towards Reno’s fallen body, Chaos moved as well.

In one precise leap the demon stood over the redhead’s broken body. Tseng froze mid-step, his fist clenching around the small white bottle that held the flowing white feather of restoration. The demon growled. The blonde on the side started crawling away once more.

At that movement Chaos’s head twisted towards him and without even a warning he pounced. As soon as Tseng registered the movement his own body sprang into action. By the time the demon tore into the helpless blonde Tseng has slapped the bottle into Reno’s chest, breaking it on contact and causing the feather of healing magic sink into his torn skin. When he looked up though he was caught by the demon and Chaos lunged at him this time, claws and fangs bared as it jumped from the mutilated mess of blood, white, and blonde hair towards the two Turks. Tseng still had his gun drawn and pointed it at the demon, though knew it would not do much, but he still dared to think to fire.

At the first swipe of claws it was Death Penalty that blocked the hit before twisting and firing off a round. The second claw was held barely at bay by the golden gauntlet Vincent had and the snapping jaws were muffled by the flow of his red cape in their brief exchange. Then Vincent’s form was gone as quick as it appeared and it distracted Chaos towards the other side of the cave.

“He is still not in the clear. Grab him and leave the cave,” Vincent ordered and jumped away as Chaos swiped at the spot in the rock wall where he had perched moments ago. The ex-Turk rolled as he hit the ground before his body moving in a quick blur of red and black, firing off shots in quick succession at the demon but never hurting him, just distracting him. Once Vincent had stopped once more with Chaos pacing towards him, the ex-Turk spoke again. “Leave now. Make sure everything is alright with the other attacks!” then Vincent lunged the demon.

Tseng was held transfixed as he watched the older man, a man he greatly respected and had become somewhat of a mentor and idol in the past, that had evolved to the strange friendship that the two held, as he lunged towards his greatest fears and his obvious death with clear determination on his features.

Vincent was not suicidal, he had not thought like that in ages after he had found out that the pandemonium of chaos inside that nothingness would do everything possible to keep him from dying and would take over his body shall he try it. But even he thought that his hopes were dropping in trying to fight Chaos. He may not be a full blow WEAPON and Vincent may have actually destroyed Omega, but that was completely different from now. Now he was fighting as he had once in the past as a Turk. The only thing that was different was the after-effects of the demons inside him had left him with their increased speed, reflexes, and few tricks, and the fact that Chaos was inside Lucrecia’s body instead of his mind.

His body disappeared the last moment before meeting with Chaos and the demon’s claw tore into the cavern floor before he shifted his body and his wing caught Vincent where he reappeared in the air. Not before the ex-Turk got off two shots with Death Penalty and disappearing right before hitting the cavern wall.

A bright flash of light and an explosion blinded everybody in the area.

Cloud wrapped his one arm around Tifa’s shoulders and she kept both of hers around his waist as they watched the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim burn brightly. The Rebel soldiers that had survived had surrendered and now kneeled with hands bound before the WRO soldiers and Turks as they watched the mansion burn. Both Cloud and Tifa finally allowed for everything to die out with the burning of the mansion. “Vincent should have been here,” Cloud muttered to the crown of Tifa’s head, his eyes never straying from the rising flames.

“We got everything possible from in there. If there is anything more, nobody but Hojo knew of it,” Tifa spoke trying to pull the blond back to her but seeing the distant look in his eyes. He was probably thinking of that night when Sephiroth lit everything on fire.

“We have to tell him it wasn’t his fault,” Cloud spoke once more and pulled away from his childhood friend.

Yuffie smirked as she walked into Rufus’s office watched as the blonde president signed off on the contract Reeve had offered him barely three days ago. The small ninja’s smirk fell into a natural smile and she bowed her head in respect to the blond man before taking the signed contract leaving his office. She looked the papers over and her smirk appeared before widening into a grin of true happiness. Wutai, Shinra, WRO relations were all safe now and the three would work together to restore the Planet once all the Rebel forces were wiped out.

Cid received the news from the ninja while on his airship and contacted each captain of his fleet to ask how the attacks on the Rebel bases were going along. So far they only had problems in the Northern Continent but other airships were already flying there to give support.

Rude received the call from Reeve as he held the mayor of Rocket Town down to hand-cuff the woman and he easily hoisted her up to answer his PHS. Once he received his new orders he glanced at the woman with pity and to the Rebel soldiers that were lined up and kept in place by the WRO soldiers with Nanaki keeping them too scared to disobey.

Barret and Elena had found themselves working rather well together as they instructed their teams to collapse the remains of the Shinra Tower on top of the Rebel base there and left before there was confirmation on how many had escaped. They had Arma Regal in their clutches and quickly got into a helicopter to take their captive back to Rufus in the WRO headquarters.

When Reeve arrived outside of Lucrecia’s cave system he quickly bounded up the slope where WRO and Rebel soldiers alike were sitting around on the rocks with speculative looks back towards the cave entrance. He quickly found Tseng, the man pacing a few meters from the cave’s mouth and neared him. “What is going on?”

“Vincent is inside fighting Chaos.”

“What!?” Reeve screeched out and turned to look at the men behind him. Even the Rebel soldiers were pensive and waiting for the outcome from this. They had all seen the demon as he transformed and had moved inside the crystal and most had seen him as he broke free and to his natural height. Tseng had gotten them all to safety within minutes before exiting the cave carrying a wounded Reno.

The redheaded Turk had already been tended to and there was nothing more that could be done for him other than to wait for him to regain consciousness.

“He won’t win,” Reeve shook his head and looked back down towards the small truck he had come in and the few men helping get the tank of mako off of the back of it. “And Chaos will smell the mako, he will exit to attack us all; we must pull back immediately. We do not have the resources to fight Chaos!”

“We won’t need to fight him,” Tseng continued his pacing, back straight, chin up, and hands behind his back. Only his brief steps showed that there was something on the Turk leader’s mind. “Vincent will win.”

The conviction in those words caused the Wutaian male to stop and turn towards the cave. He stood completely still as if a statue and seemed to have regained any lost confidence in the male inside. Vincent had no other option _but_ to win this fight.


	21. WILL

Vincent groaned in pain as he slid on the ground and finally stopped when his feet hit the rock wall. He looked down at his body and saw the tears and blood in his side from the brief slide across the rocks, but he only had seconds to act. Without a second thought he twisted his body, ignoring the pain, and watched as the dark obsidian claw latched onto his cape and the spot he was laying in moments ago. He scrambled away and fired off a few more shots, hearing the end of the clip and reloading his gun as he tried to escape to a safer distance.

His cape was completely torn off, his mantle following it and Vincent now had nothing to hide and use as a distraction as the beast lunged him again. The obsidian claw locked around his upper body, one finger hitting the rock wall through his shoulder while the rest framed his neck and upper body. He was pinned completely almost a meter off the ground. Chaos slinked closer, his massive maw leaning closer with the scent of death and blood on his lips.

Images of summer eyes, twin red swipe tattoos, and a bright bon-fire flame echoed in Vincent’s mind. “He is not here,” Vincent answered the question and Chaos growled low as he leaned closer. The heat, pleasure, and passion that were evoked by the redhead inside the demon now penetrated Vincent as well. “If he dies, it is all on you. You are the one that stabbed him,” the ex-Turk’s voice was cold and emotionless. He twisted his hand and fired off a shot with the Death Penalty, catching Chaos’s wing and ripping the leather skin much as he had done to the other with his gauntlet.

The beast roared loud enough to echo through the entire cave system, but it was not from pain.

Vincent felt anger and possessiveness rush through his body towards the redheaded Turk before he realized it was coming from Chaos. Anger of his own filled him and he twisted the hand under the claw to fire again, this time catching the demon’s shoulder, before Chaos swiped Death Penalty out of his hand, breaking his wrist in the process.

Pain was washed away by anger as Reno filled Vincent’s mind. The redhead’s eternal smile echoed inside his mind and he felt the confusion from Chaos as those same images echoed inside his own head. Then gold eyes met crimson and everything faded.

The two were just two beings in a state of darkness and nothingness. Both recognized the space as Vincent’s mind though this time surrounding Chaos’s presence was not the feel of the proto-materia Lucrecia had given him to control him. This time it was the faint white glow of the woman’s presence as it kept the demon at bay. Surrounding that presence was the bright light of the bon-fire flame that was Reno.

The silence that had filled this space in the past months was deafening and though two of the beings now did not belong and would not remain, their very presence brought the pandemonium of his mind back and Chaos revelled in the feel of something familiar. Vincent did as well. Grudgingly the demon accepted the offer that was never spoken and Lucrecia’s essence faded away so the flame could touch him.

But when Vincent jerked to consciousness from his fall, the flame disappeared from his mind as well and he found that only Chaos remained inside that nothingness as the demon returned inside his body.

Vincent opened his eyes and looked at the frail body of the woman he had fallen in love with as she lay on the ground before him in the nude. He reached down and brushed some of the brown strands from her face. She looked so serene it was as if she was sleeping. When he reached to adjust her body more comfortably he noticed his gauntlet shaking. The claws clenched just short of stabbing into the woman’s prone body and Vincent gasped as he realized it was Chaos.

The demon was inside him and without the presence of the other three to keep him entertained, without the proto-materia or Lucrecia’s presence to keep him under control, or without Reno’s blinding flame of fire to keep him soothed, the demon was itching to get out. And he wanted to get out _through_ Vincent.

Now the urges that filled him disgusted him. At least at first, but he felt that the need to spill blood and bathe in it was his own, not the demon’s. Before he realized that Reno’s red hair was just like a cascade of blood and he remembered how that had spilled over the man’s back as Vincent took him from behind. Then the stirring in his loins increased as he could only imagine taking him again, this time his actual life blood joining the red strands to make the view better. Then he imagined dominating the redhead completely once more.

The last time they had been together the pleasure and need was so overwhelming that he had not cared that the redhead had taken advantage of the situation. _Now_ he wanted Reno to pay for that and he imagined tying the redhead up and keeping him helpless as he slowly ripped him apart.

Vincent shook his head to get the images out and clutched at his throbbing left arm as he left Lucrecia’s body without a second glance. He could not be near her, he did not want to look upon her ever again as once more she had given him the demon and those urges. He supported his shoulder against the wall as he walked, ripping his torn shirt even further and revelling in the feel of pain from the wounds that it opened with that walk. Then he saw light in the distance with a single silhouette standing in view. Then everything disappeared.

Tseng’s eyes narrowed as he heard someone approaching the exit of the cave and when he saw Vincent staggering into the light he rushed the man. He was completely surprised when Vincent roughly shoved him away, his gauntlet actually closing on his chest and leaving thin red lines on his white dress shirt.

“Vincent?” Reeve questioned when he saw the action. The man’s black clothes were torn to shreds, his hair covering his face, but when he looked up both Tseng and Reeve stepped back. Bright golden eyes were staring at them.

With a final roar that arched the ex-Turk’s frame so it could escape, Vincent’s body doubled over and the strips of black fabric hanging loose from his body flew much the same way his cape had before forming into two massive wings behind his back. Chaos took flight and disappeared before anybody could realize what had happened.

But it was Vincent’s will that made him fly off and kept him from attacking and devouring all the soldiers waiting around them. He flew off at speeds that even the fastest Chocobo could not rival and disappeared into hiding. Chaos became Vincent as Vincent became Chaos. There was no other presence beside the two in one body as they both struggled for control without realizing that both were giving it away.

Reeve started at the sky for hours as the men worked the mako tank inside the caves and spilled it around the crystals, watching as they absorbed it as if living things before dissipating and all of it falling away to create a small pool of mako in the ground. From the sudden pressure that surrounded the area Tseng guessed that the planet had opened another wound and the Lifestream was so escape in these caves. But the pressure was only there for a moment before disappearing completely and the pool of mako being sucked up into the rock as if it was never there.

Three weeks later and not a word from Vincent, Reno was up and about, getting chased by the nurses as he kept leaving his room to smoke and drink to his heart’s content. He had heard the jist of what happened from Tseng himself and had spoken to Shelke about Vincent.

“He has honestly not contacted me. I am very worried for him,” Shelke confided in the redhead after one too many pestering questions and the small brunette slumped in her seat in front of her computer. “What if Chaos has completely taken over his mind?”

Reno had left the room without a word and sauntered over to find somebody else to talk to so he could get his mind off of the berserker that was gone off the face of the planet. He passed by the meeting room where Rufus and Reeve were standing over a large map while there were reports and more sheets spilled all around the long table.

“Wassup, boss?” he entered the room without knocking and grinned at the glare he received from Rufus. “Not here ta bother ya, swear!” he raised both hands in defence. “Need somethin’ ta do, though. Anythin’ works, really.”

With a frustrated sigh Rufus sat back down in one of the chairs and motioned for the redhead to join them.

“What’s da problem?”

“The wind-mills. We have them up and running however a lot of places are still against having anything to do with us. Although Arma Regal is under arrest and his plans have been exposed, the Rebels did do quite a lot of good in some places and so a lot of people are still against us.”

“Hmm… like Rocket Town, I guess?” Reno questioned Reeve, knowing that Rufus would snap at him if the man were to say anything at all. “Well, that chick that was runnin’ da place before we got there, she was doin’ good. Why not keep ‘er on there?”

“And spark another rebellion? No, thank you.” Rufus snapped.

Reno sighed in resignation and rolled his eyes. “Look, I don’t know much ‘bout the rest of da world, but I’ve seen Edge and the darker corners there. Force ‘em to accept this and it’ll help ‘em.”

“If the people of Edge accept, Kalm will agree to.” Reeve pointed out as if they had already thought this over. “Problem is getting them to accept. Cloud and Tifa are already up for it and are trying to convince other residents of the same thing, but we’re having one major problem.”

“Let me guess, they dunt want nuthin’ ta do with Shinra?” Reno laughed but at the serious expression on both men’s faces his grin fell apart. “Seriously? That’s bullshit.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Rufus replied.

Reno threw up his hands and stood up. “Well… I ain’t good at politics, so I’m gonna go find Rude ta play cards with me. Unless I get a mission of some type,” he hinted towards Rufus.

The blond president sighed but shook his head. “Medical staff told me you need at least another two weeks before going back to active duty. You were exposed to a lot more mako than is healthy, a surprise you didn’t get poisoned.”

“Tche,” Reno clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and scratched at his chest lazily. “One more good thing of bein’ a mako junkie in the past, I guess.”

“Appears to be so. If anything, ask Shelke if she needs help cracking the last discs of information we took from Nebeilheim.” Rufus waved the redhead off and did not acknowledge the brief salute Reno gave him before he left.

Reno did not want to go back to Shelke though because she made him think of Vincent. And Vincent made him think of Chaos, whom in turn made him think of that state of nothingness where he had been suspended a few times now. He had told nobody about it yet and wanted to talk to Vincent first, but with the man gone he had no idea who to ask as to what exactly that had been. He was _not_ looking forward to writing his mission report once he was back on active duty.

After wandering for the rest of the day Reno made his way to his favourite balcony now with a new bottle of whiskey, the expensive stuff that slid down his throat like silk, and lit a cigarette as he stared at the dark sky. He thought of Vincent and the choice the man had made. It was either let Chaos go free and rampage through the world, following in his wake of destruction and mayhem, or accept him and contain him so that the only damage he could cause was inside your own head.

Reno once more clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he thought of the options. If it were up to him he would have let the world suffer. But Vincent was the type of person that took the blame and guilt for everything, even if it was not his fault or he was not even involved. The man had the strongest sense of justice but the weakest sense of self imaginable. He was almost as bad as Cloud was in those aspects.

The redhead grinned as he remembered a conversation the two had in the past. Vincent had said that each of the demons had taken away something when they had left him. Passion, that Reno had felt as he had never felt before in any bed partner and that had been so strong that it had hurt when he was in that state of nothingness. Judgement, that had allowed for Reno to live and for both to escape when Vincent had finally accept Chaos’s powers and used them to save them both from the blond mercenary first chance he had. Remorse, that had felt him compelled to reach out to Reno through Chaos to see if he was all right, and caused him to revert back to being a Turk and leading a team instead of being the lone fighter he had been for over thirty years now.

Will to live… that one made Reno grimace as he took a large gulp from his bottle of whiskey. Was it the man’s will or the demon’s that the two merge together as one once more? The demon had obviously preferred Vincent’s body as a host to Lucrecia – the woman now properly buried near Midgar – so maybe he had forced Vincent to accept him. Reno was pretty sure that it was Vincent that had chosen the merge, but now being with Chaos without any way of controlling him must have been eating away at his self-control. Was that why Vincent had pulled away from them, pulled away from _him_? Reno had, surprisingly even to himself, accepted Chaos as just another part of the berserker, even when the demon had not been truly in his body.

He scratched at his chest again and this time looked down, scratching over the scar that was left behind when Chaos had stabbed him through the crystal with the point of his wing so he could draw out the mako in his blood to feed and free himself. That had allowed the demon to be free; it had all been due to the craze that had taken over the redhead in his mako high when he rushed towards the contained demon, though Reno still suspected that Chaos had influenced him in his limped dash across the cave towards the crystals.

He grimaced once more as he realized he was picking at the scar as if it was a scab. The mako was mostly gone from his system now however he was still healing a lot faster than an average person, even the average Turk, so the red lines his nails had left on his chest disappeared within moments.

“Reno!” Elena startled the redhead from his thoughts as she entered onto the balcony. “Hey, sorry to startle you, been calling for a while,” she smiled that sweet smile that just had to be copied on Reno’s own lips. “Thought I’d try and get your mind off of things with a card game. Rude is setting it up, Cid and Yuffie decided to join.”

Reno’s lips quirked up in a wider smile. Elena always knew how to cheer him up. “Playing poker for gil,” she added in and the smile turned into a grin.

“Alright, I’m coming.” He threw away his remaining cigarette and took his bottle of whiskey to follow the woman back inside the building. When he arrived in the room they had decided to play, Reno was surprised to see Shelke, Reeve, and even Rufus sitting around the room as well.

It was full swing into the game, and Reno obviously winning because he was a cheating bastard and so good at it that nobody caught him though they all knew it, when Rufus spoke up from the corner where he had been conversing with Reeve. “Your new apartments are almost complete, as well.”

Reno’s eyes glazed up at the blonde in surprise but he did not miss the exchange of cards between Yuffie and Shelke and quickly called them on their cheat. The two girls were laughing but they backed out of the following two games without argument.

“Why do we need new apartments?” Reno questioned.

Tseng, who had come in to look for Rufus earlier and remained to the keep the man company, looked Reno over as well. “You are fine with staying in the rooms here all the time? Rufus started the construction of a few apartment buildings in the area to house all members of WRO and the Turks.”

“Turks too?”

Reeve nodded at the question. “We’re all working as one now.”


	22. Six Months Later

It was half a year after Vincent had disappeared. By Shelke’s calculations, if Chaos and Vincent had not merged, the ex-Turk would be on his dying bed now if not already dead. He had become a scarce topic of conversation amongst any of the WRO members, and especially around Shelke herself as the young woman was still very hurt by his sudden and quiet disappearance.

The Turks had officially become head of WRO’s military powers with Rufus as their leader on equal grounds with Reeve. Memories of MAYHEM and their ploys had shattered completely when the windmills had proven successful and adaptable to all continents and villages. This new source of energy was slowly building up and people were regaining the technology they had lost with the loss of mako.

When the mako reactors blew up people had fallen half a century, if not more, back in technological advancements and they had been fighting with lesser energies to remain at that level. Now they had a steady hold in the rise and were building their way back to the top.

Shinra was no longer a name of fear. Many people were still wary of Rufus and the Turks, but now they saw them more as the grunts and muscle for the WRO instead of any real power on their own. Wutai was rebuilding itself a lot faster than anybody had foreseen and people were becoming afraid of another war. That was until Rufus, not Reeve, was the one to shake hands with the Wutaian General coming to Edge to assess the situation.

The news had spread all around the world and everyone was viewing the WRO differently now. Each village had their own mayor or president to lead them, but they were part of a union of all the villages of the continent and they were part of a union with all the other continents, Wutai included shortly after. The WRO became known as the main government power in the world, but they were not imposing on anything and Reeve openly claimed that he was only there to help restore the planet than to lead the people.

Rufus, on the other hand, was all for leading and controlling the people. And since some of them needed it he had quickly taken control of a few choice areas. The fact that Costa del Sol was one of the first areas he took over surprised many people, but when they noticed how much the prices of everything dropped there and brought more business, it was proven that Rufus knew what he was doing.

Waking up from this time of chaos the world needed a leader. Everybody were looking up to somebody and seeing another picture in the newspaper of Cloud and Rufus shaking hands after the blond president had ordered the construction of a brand new orphanage and school in Edge, made more people like him.

Reno knew that Rufus hated acting the good guy, he preferred to rule by instilling fear in people, but doing a few good deeds was what he needed now and having Tseng beside him as his advisor rather than just a military head, helped the blonde president out. Having Tseng there also helped out Reno as that brought as little attention as possible to the redhead and kept him out of Rufus’s targeting range when the blonde president had a particularly bad day.

It was six months after his disappearance and Reno finally found some clues as to where Vincent may have been. The hardest part was not to find the clues, but keeping them a secret from Shelke and Tseng. But he was determined to find Vincent and end the argument between Rufus, Tseng, and Reeve once and for all.

Rufus deemed Vincent too much of a threat to leave alone, Reeve wanted to find him and help him out, get to join back, and Tseng stood firmly by his belief that leaving him to sort this out on his own was the best option.

Reno’s opinion was that the man needed a nudge in the right direction and there have not been any news of demons and half-WEAPONs terrorizing anybody around the world, so Vincent must have had at least some control over the beast.

The redhead had put in his request for a vacation a little earlier this year and that had automatically raised Tseng’s suspicion, but being annoying and obnoxious around Rufus got him exactly what he wanted and so he was packing one day for a trip.

“Here,” Tseng startled the redhead as he stood in the doorway of his bedroom the in the redhead’s apartment in Junon. He was holding out a manila envelope to the redhead. “Your reservations at the hotel in Costa del Sol and plane ticket are in there.”

“Thanks, boss!” Reno scratched at his chest and grinned, taking the envelope.

Tseng just raised his brow and turned around. “Report straight to me on your return. I have a mission for you once you’re back.”

“Yes, sir!” Reno mock saluted even though the Wutaian could not see him and waited until Tseng closed the door before he threw the manila envelope in the trashcan. He finished packing his bag and was just about to leave before it grabbed his attention. “Tche,” he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and took out the envelope. He wanted to at least see how cheap Rufus was and which hotel he had booked him in,

To his surprise, when Reno opened the envelope it was not colourful brochures and pamphlets that were custom in the Costa del Sol preparations. It was maps and photos and reports. When Reno scanned the first one his grin returned to his features. At least he was right in guessing where Vincent was. The one thing that still surprised him however was the plane ticket in the envelope that was going to Icicle Inn.

Two days later Reno made camp not that far from Gaea’s Cliff. He rubbed his hands together over his small fire and turned back towards his tent to hide in it while waiting for his food to cook. He was completely caught off guard at the shrill whistle and loud roar that echoed around him. But for some reason he recognized that roar and by the time he scrambled out of his tent, Chaos had already landed.

Reno stood to his height, holding his EMR loosely but still carefully. Barely three meters from him stood the mutation of Vincent and Chaos. It was Vincent’s body, his black pants and shirt with buckles, the same ones he had worn that day in Lucrecia’s cave when the WRO had stormed in. His black hair was unkempt and loose and the usual red bandana was gone, the locks were falling in his face but Reno easily recognized the features as the ones that belonged to Vincent.

What was different from the berserker were the large black wings that were gently folded behind his back; one of which, Reno remembered with a shudder, had stabbed right through him. There was also the fact that Vincent’s usual golden gauntlet was completely gone and in its place was a heavy, muscled, obsidian claw. The last difference were the horns hiding in the black hair that pointed straight up and back. The golden eyes were nothing new to Reno, though they still startled him some, but they were still looking at him with intelligence and recognition.

“I killed you.” The voice that spoke was not Vincent’s but it could be nobody else’s. It was a deep growl that mixed with the husky voice Reno remembered Vincent speaking in when they had fucked.

“Ha… I ain’t that easy ta be rid of,” Reno joked and could only hope it was the proper stance to take.

Suddenly the creature before him lunged at him. He had no time, nor will, to protect himself as Chaos flew right over the fire and tumbled into him. They ended up sprawled on top of the remains of Reno’s tent and only the Turk’s heavy winter jacket had kept the demon’s claws from shredding his torso open.

Then the most surprising thing happened, when the demon ducked down it was not to bite at his neck; it was to sniff it. The demon inhaled right at his neck and then the claw tore apart his jacket further and the familiar face with golden eyes buried itself in the warmth of his chest, cheek rubbing right where Chaos’s wing had stuck out from. “I thought I killed you,” this time the voice sounded a lot more like Vincent.

But just as fast as the moment had happened the demon spring back and stood in the distance. He was staring at Reno with wide, red eyes filled with fear. Reno sat up slowly, shedding the heavy coat that had been torn to shreds already and only worked on impeding his movements, before he stood up completely. He smirked a predatory smile when he stalked closer to the demon and watched as Vincent did not move, but growled.

Vincent felt the rumble deep inside him that was coming from Chaos. Although he had let the demon control him over the past few months he had been surprised to find control given back so easily; he was surprised at Chaos’s open admission now. Reno’s smirk only widened to a more feral one when he heard the sound and he stepped closer still. That growl sounded surprisingly like a purr.


	23. Life

Reno lunged at Vincent the same way he had lunged him just moments ago. Maybe it was because he knew he could win, maybe because Vincent held Chaos back, or maybe it was Chaos that held Vincent back, but for some reason he did not move out of the way as the redhead crashed into him and sent them both sprawling in the snow.

“Didn’t think that’d work, yo…” the redhead grinned lightly as he sat up and straddled the older man to get comfortable. The wings that Vincent had sprouted were gone and Reno could not tell if it was because Vincent had full control once more or the demon had hidden them so he would not be lying on them.

But when summer eyes met with the crimson pair the redhead only grinned and leaned down to steal a kiss from the older man. He nibbled at the unresponsive lips and licked until they parted. Once they did his tongue dove inside and ran over the sharp canines in surprise. He started pulling back but there was suddenly a hand at the back of his head keeping him still and the lips under his started responding, tongue pushing out to battle against his, and two beings over-powering Reno with their passion and lust.

Once the kiss broke Reno was panting, a breathless smile on his lips as he rested his forehead on the older man’s shoulder. “Fuck… thought ya’d tear ma head off if I tried that.”

“Then why did you?” Vincent’s deep rumble echoed through him as the older man held him close.

Reno only scoffed before clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Tche… if I died kissin’ ya, it’s worth it. Dun’t know who taught ya, but they taught ya good.”

A deep chuckle left the older man and Reno felt it reverberate through him. “How ya holdin’ up?”

“I am not. Chaos is usually the one in control. I am really surprised he relinquished it to me so easily.”

Reno scoffed lightly with a wide grin on his lips. “Maybe he saw me comin’ an’ didn’t wanna deal with me, so he ran away.”

Vincent also chuckled at that and nodded. “Maybe… it may just be another form of torture for me.”

Reno laughed but after a moment he sobered up completely. “Why haven’t ya gone back yet? Shelke’s worried sick fer ya. At least give ‘er a call er somethin’.”

“I am not sure where my phone is,” at Reno’s chuckle Vincent smiled but also added, “nor am I sure if Chaos knows how to dial properly.” At that statement Reno finally sat up and looked at Vincent’s left arm. The obsidian claw that belonged to the demon was gone and replaced by the ever-present glove that annoyed the redhead to no end.

As Reno sat back Vincent followed his example so sit up and leaned back on his right arm to look at the redhead. He was so focused on the glove that for a moment the ex-Turk felt completely exposed. His left hand rose, fingers caught and played lazily with the redhead’s own. Then Reno met his eyes as his hands went to the buckles at the top of the glove.

Red eyes narrowed but after no clear rejection the first buckle came undone. His fingers slid down the glove to the second buckle, then the third that was at the wrist. Next his hands ran to the top to grab the zipper that ran the inside of the ex-Turk’s arm and ended right below his middle finger on his palm. Their eyes never parted and Reno leaned closer suddenly, lips connecting in a passionate kiss as he slowly tugged the zipper down.

When it was at his wrist Vincent’s other hand grabbed Reno’s hair and tugged back. “Stop.” He ordered and the redhead froze. It seemed as if the ex-Turk was on the verge of losing any and all control he had.

“It’s alright. I trust ya.”

“No,” Vincent growled, eyes hardening. “ _I_ do not trust me.” Reno smirked at that statement and his lips parted to speak, but Vincent interrupted him. “You have no idea what he wants, what he makes me want when he is awake.”

Reno’s smirk faltered only for a moment before the zipper ran over the man’s palm, eyes still never straying from the crimson depths before him. “Blood, gore, war an’ fightin’… bathin’ in ma blood as ya fuck me raw and lovin’ every second of it, knowin’ that I’m lovin’ it as much as ya are.” Vincent’s expression screwed up between surprise and curiosity. “Been there too, love. Seen what he wants and wanted it too. If it’ll make ya happy, do it,” he started peeling the glove off carefully, pulling at each finger of worn leather without once looking down.

“If it’ll make ya guilty… hold back a lil’,” Reno grinned but grinded his hips forward, showing Vincent that he was just as hard as the ex-Turk was. The glove was gone but his summer eyes never tore away from the crimson depths. Instead, his fingers ran up the man’s arm, feeling the light shiver it sent through him, before reaching his collar and starting to undo his shirt as well. “But just a lil’,” he added with a grin.

Vincent continued to stare at the redhead in surprise and only after his shirt was gone and slipped off his shoulders, did Reno stand up. His eyes remained locked and the older man had no idea how he could contain his curiosity for so long. Then the redhead was undressing. They were in the cold, lying in snow, but Reno threw off his dress shirt and trousers as if he was on the beach.

Then the redhead moved away and towards the fallen tent. He would not lie on the snow at least. He sat down on the cloth and beckoned the red-eyed demon before him with his eyes and smile only. As he lay back he spread his legs in a wanton show of submission and though Vincent was still about a meter or two away from him, Reno felt the rumble in his chest when the demon growled.

And just as suddenly Vincent was on top of him, supporting himself with both hands on either side of Reno’s head, settling comfortably between his legs as the redhead reached up and pulled his hair tie away completely. The red tresses spilled across his hands, making him shiver as they tangled in the fingers of his left hand – skin that had not seen contact with anything other than the glove for too long.

When Reno’s summer eyes, heavy lidded and glazed over with passion, looked up at him, Vincent closed his own pair, feeling the last of Chaos subside inside his body and relinquishing all control to the ex-Turk. When the two men kissed again Reno was caught completely off guard. The ex-Turk usually dominated the kiss as he did everything else, including his kills. It was with raw precision and power that left him staggering that Vincent always kept the redhead so close to the edge but never close enough. Now though, the berserker’s tongue was lazy in its swipes inside his mouth, drawing out his own tongue before sucking it into his mouth.

Reno was even more surprised when suddenly they rolled over, Vincent lying beneath him and the redhead perched atop him. The Turk had to pull back to stare at him in curiosity, but then he felt the soft hands, thumbs gently rubbing at his thighs in an encouraging manner before a gentle smile appeared on his features.

“Are ya sure?” Reno questioned with slight worry. He did not know from personal experience however he could read people really well and he knew how hard it must be for Vincent to give up control completely rather than lose it in a fight. As a response the berserker reached up with his left hand and brushed at one red swipe with his thumb. The gentle smile on his lips surprised Reno but it just seemed to _fit_ properly for some reason.

The redhead nodded to himself and rocked his hips over the ex-Turk’s covered erection. They both moaned in unison and Reno clutched at Vincent’s raised arm. He continued to rock his hips slowly as his fingers ran over the sensitive and scarred flesh. Then he brought those fingers up to his face and his devilish tongue dashed out to lick them. Vincent bucked up when two of his fingers suddenly entered the heat of the redhead’s mouth. Once they left Reno guided them behind him and they entered an even tighter heat.

Preparations were quick and Reno’s hands left Vincent’s to do the work as he opened the man’s trousers to let him free. He stroked him, leaning forward before lips locking, and one hand slipped into Vincent’s thick hair before dragging him up. The ex-Turk sat up with Reno in his lap, one hand still stretching the redhead for him while the other rested on his thigh.

“This is not about you hanging control over ta me,” Reno spoke, his street slang gone almost completely form the words and returning only when Vincent’s long fingers brushed that spot deep inside him. He was proud not to stutter though or lose track of what he was saying. “This is about you, letting it go.”

Those words may not have made sense to anybody else or coming from anybody else, but Reno had been inside that nothingness and had seen how much Vincent had to struggle to keep Chaos at bay, to always be in control. Reno had seen how the man needed to dominate him and see him as prey in fear of giving him more leverage than needed if he saw him as something else. Reno had seen how those emotions, spilling from Chaos over into them both, had allowed the gunman to completely let go and just search for the feeling without the need to hand over the power.

Now, as they sat clutching at each other, Reno’s hand guided Vincent’s to the older man’s erection before both hands guided it inside his body. The redhead settled himself in the gunman’s lap and smiled softly, resting his hands lazily on Vincent’s shoulders. Vincent in return wrapped his own arms loosely around the redhead’s waist.

Then Reno rose experimentally and dropped lightly. The next movement was when Vincent thrust up into the redhead. They set a slow rhythm together that was only controlled by their building passion. Reno arched his back, hands clutching at Vincent’s long hair and head thrown back as he rolled his hips to meet every one of Vincent’s upward thrusts.

“Holy Shiva,” Vincent muttered, burying his face in the redhead’s neck, both hands now holding the redhead’s hips to guide him into his movements.

“More, I need more, please…” Reno gasped out above him, feeling those talented lips playing with the hollow of his neck and running up to his chin. Before either of them knew it Reno was on his back once more with Vincent thrusting between his legs. The redhead had a strong clutch on his back and held the older man close to his body, legs wrapped around his hips and pivoting into every one of those maddening thrusts as they sped up.

Then a sudden pressure filled them both and Vincent was so surprised by his completion that he screamed in surprise, arching his back and eyes wide to stare into nothingness. Reno was as surprised as the older man to find his completion, connecting with the man as they reached their end at the same time due to that one strange push. But unlike Vincent’s unseeing eyes, the redhead’s vision was filled with Vincent’s beautifully arched frame and the large black wings that sprouted out of his back and spread as if trying to reach the edges of the sky.

Then Vincent collapsed atop him, the wings falling to cover them both as they lay in the cold snow, breathing heavily and too surprised by the sudden end of their activities to say anything.

“That was…” Vincent stated speaking, feeling the weight of the black, leathering appendages that still sprouted from his back.

“Mmhmm… it was Chaos,” Reno added in, his legs relaxing to unwrap from around Vincent but still framing the older man’s body. His arms still remained locked around his back though and his fingers were playing with the skin where the black wings sprouted.

“Stop that,” Vincent growled from above him, face hidden but the sound rumbling through both their chests.

Reno just grinned in response and continued to toy with what was obviously sensitive skin for the older man. A movement from the berserker and a sudden, sharp pain startled Reno into complying. “What the fuck!?” he screamed and watched as Vincent’s head reared back, blood staining his lips and tongue lapping at them to reveal sharp fangs behind. What surprised him most though were the crimson eyes with specks of gold dancing in between. He reached up to his neck where he felt the pain and felt his torn skin with a grimace.

“I thought this wasn’t ‘bout control?” Reno ground out in anger, glaring at the older man.

Vincent just smirked down at him, the expression absolutely feral when added with those sharp fangs, blood, and the large wings still covering them both. “There is a difference between control and claim, Reno.” It was Vincent’s voice that spoke the words, no accent to the demon what so ever, before he leaned down to kiss the redhead again.

When they parted Reno pushed the man away from him suddenly, feeling the thickening erection Vincent was sporting by his thigh. Without giving the older man a chance to understand what he was doing he shuffled under his frame till he was lying on his stomach and propped himself up as much as possible with the older man’s body still above him. He looked over one shoulder, past the bloodied mark of claim Chaos felt the need to put on the redhead, and his glazed eyes bore right into Vincent as he moaned suddenly. “More.”

Vincent just smiled before leaning over that same shoulder to capture the redhead’s lips in another bruising kiss before entering the redhead once more into a smooth movement.

They did not separate all evening and even far into the morning the following day. The wings, fangs, obsidian claw, and horns disappeared off of Vincent’s person. Reno had brought him an extra pair of clothes, as well as for himself knowing his would probably be ripped at least once, and the two made their way back to Icicle Inn.

Reno’s one-week vacation was cut short by exactly one day when the two men returned to the WRO headquarters at Junon. Vincent was reluctant the entire time, not wanting to endanger the others with his newfound lack-of-control over Chaos. But during their trip Reno had forced Vincent to take them back to that state of nothingness. And while in the darkness that did not exist and burning with a fire that was not there, Reno proved to Vincent that Chaos did not need to be controlled.

When they landed at the air pad in the Junon Area they were surprisingly escorted straight to one of the meeting rooms of the airport where the head WRO members, Rufus, and the Turks were waiting for them both.

“Vincent! You’re back!” both Yuffie and Shelke ran towards the man, ignoring what they had known of him to wrap their arms around his neck in unison.

“Glad you’re back, Vince!” Cid grumbled with a wide grin, slapping the back of once shoulder once Vincent had effectively disengaged the young women off of him.

Reeve smiled and nodded when he stepped up from beside Rufus. “Got everything under control?”

The ex-Turk nodded and looked over at the small crowd of people that had come to greet him upon his return. A strange feeling filled his chest as he looked them all over. The two young women that had completely shattered any type of solitude he could ever have wanted, the gruff pilot and the leader of the WRO that had become such close friends. Even Rufus and the Turks seemed well placed, seeming more like the family of his lover than his own, but people that he knew he could come to accept.

His red eyes locked with Tseng’s black depths as he thought this. The man was well on his way to joining Cid and Reeve in that tight circle of really close friends. Tseng just inclined his head with a small smile on his lips. Vincent copied the action, then noted as the Turk leader turned to Reno. “And what happened to you?”

As a response Reno sniffled loudly right before sneezing. He rubbed at his red nose and glared at Vincent’s back. Tseng’s small smile widened barely a fraction. “Your immune system should be better than that, Reno. I would take it that you were rolling around naked in the snow for you to get so sick.”

The mischievous glint in the black depths caused Reno’s own eyes to narrow. But the words were already out and even Cid, whom had heard briefly of what was going on between Vincent and Reno, blushed and looked away. The one thing that startled them all was Rufus’s loud laugh as the blonde president doubled over suddenly.

“Glad I could be yer form of entertainment, sir,” Reno grumbled out, wrapping his arms tighter around his torso and turning to walk away. He was completely caught off guard when Vincent’s arm suddenly fell across his shoulders and the older man pulled him closer to his body. The snickers behind him were answer enough as to why Vincent had done it, but then the ex-Turk had to go all out and tip his chin up with one finger so that they could lock lips in a passionate kiss.

It is safe to say that the couple were the last to leave the room that day and the following one Reno was too sick to even get out of bed.


End file.
